Secrets
by SerenBex
Summary: When a new DC is transferred to CID she instantly manages to wind people up. Keen to keep her personal life to herself, will this lead to danger for everyone involved? Rubbish summary, but hopefully an alright fic! M for language and some themes. Jo/OC and implied Sam/Phil
1. Chapter 1

"Right you lot, settle down!" DCI Jack Meadows bellowed, striding into CID at the beginning of the morning shift. The team immediately turned to face him, their conversations stopping at once as their interested gazes settled on the relatively tall, slim red-headed woman standing beside him, regarding them with an expression that was dangerously close to indifference. "This is DC Hannah McKay. She's just transferred to Sun Hill from Cardiff CID. I've heard great things and her record speaks for itself, so I'm expecting you all to play nicely." He looked around quickly, his gaze settling on Jo. "Hannah, I want you to work with Jo today. She'll show you the ropes, alright?"

"Yes, Guv." The young woman nodded.

Jack nodded. "Good…"

As he turned and left the office, a tall dark-haired woman stood up and made her way towards Hannah. She smiled warmly and extended a hand for the younger woman to shake.

"Jo Masters."

"Hannah McKay… obviously." Hannah replied with a wry smile. "So, what are we working on?"

As Jo led her over to her desk, detailing the case she was working on, Hannah allowed her gaze to wander around the office. It was almost identical to the CID office she'd spent the past two and a half years working in in Cardiff and the year before that in Manchester. Harassed-looking men and women wading through piles of paperwork or chasing up leads was a comfortingly familiar sight. Her attention was caught by a tall, good-looking man dressed in an obviously expensive suit. He strode past the two women, flashing Hannah a toothy grin as he went.

"You wanna watch yourself there." Jo cautioned her with a smirk. "DS Hunter has a reputation around here."

"Message received and understood." Hannah replied guardedly, her gaze following the man across the room.

Arching an eyebrow, the brunette drew her new colleague's attention back to the case. "Let's go to the market and speak to Mr Hardcastle. We should see what he's got to say."

With a nod, Hannah followed the woman from the office. Wordlessly they headed out of the station and crossed to where the car was parked, two pairs of high-heeled boots tapping on the concrete beneath their feet. The silence between them as Jo drove them towards Canley Market Hall suited Hannah fine. Conversation tended to lead to questions which she often didn't feel like answering; particularly when she was in the awkward 'new girl' stage.

They drew up in the car park and got out, looking around. Hannah stared at the large stone building with an expression of distain. She had been born and grew up in Sun Hill and remembered the Market Hall from her childhood. It didn't appear to have changed at all since then, right down to the graffiti on the walls. She didn't need to read the words that adored the wooden doors in red spray paint to know what they said and wondered briefly that no one had bothered to clean it off in the almost fifteen years since Nathan Palmer had done it. Smirking slightly at the memory of that night, Hannah nodded at the woman beside her and returned the smile Jo sent in her direction as they made their way through the doors into the huge single room inside. Rows of tables lined the edges, with more tables in rows inside them. Hannah guessed that you could find almost anything you were looking for here; from books to vegetables and clothes to building tools. Ignoring all the other stalls, they made their way quickly towards the man they needed to question, keeping their minds focused on the case at hand.

The man behind the long trestle table at the back of the Market Hall watched as the two attractive women strode purposefully towards him. They were about the same height but the man, who had an eye for details, spotted that the heels of the red-head's boots were much higher. They came to a halt in front of his stall and the man was about to come out with a comment about it being his lucky day, when the brunette flashed her warrant card at him.

"Mr Hardcastle? I'm DC Masters from Sun Hill CID. This is DC McKay."

"How can I help you?" The man asked. The red-head didn't miss the sudden uncomfortable expression that passed through his eyes.

"We're investigating claims that drugs are being supplied from your stall. Would you know anything about that?" Jo continued.

Hannah watched the man carefully as he began to protest at the unspoken accusation. Her eyes flickered to his stock and she moved slowly along the table, scrutinising the objects carefully. It seemed to be the kind of stall that sold odds and ends; nothing in particular. Picking up a small wooden jewellery box, she lifted the lid and looked inside. Hannah could sense Jo's annoyance at her actions as the brunette continued questioning the stall-holder and she was seemingly paying no attention to what they were saying.

"Mr Hardcastle?" She asked, interrupting her colleague mid-sentence. "Where did you get these jewellery boxes?"

"I can't remember…" He answered with a shrug. "But I'll do you a special deal; buy one get one free."

"I don't think so." Hannah told him. With a smirk, she slid her nail between the base and the side of the box, working the joint loose. It fell apart to reveal a hidden compartment inside which was a small, clear plastic bag full of white powder. "You're nicked, sunshine."

Jo blinked at her for a moment, furrowing her eyebrows. Then she cautioned the man, as Hannah didn't appear to be intending to do it herself. The red-head gathered up the jewellery boxes into a plastic bag, before moving to speak to the woman at the stall beside Mr Hardcastle's. She returned a moment later, informing him that the woman had agreed to keep an eye on his stock until Uniform had been to search it and he could arrange for someone to deal with it.

Back at the station, Hannah left Jo to check the man in with the custody Sergeant, disappearing off as her mobile began to ring. The brunette stared after her with a mixture of bewilderment and annoyance. When, ten minutes later, Hannah returned, she had a packet of cigarettes and a lighter clutched tightly in her hand.

"Ready to interview Hardcastle?"

Hannah nodded. "How are we going to play this?" She asked as the two women headed through the double doors to the interview rooms.

"As a team preferably." Jo told her bluntly. "I don't know how you're used to working, but around here we don't do one-woman operations."

"Understood." The younger woman replied equally bluntly, pushing open the interview room door and going inside.

"Interview commencing at 2:47pm, officers present are DC Masters and DC McKay. Also present are Mr Simon Hardcastle and Mr Neil Harrison, Mr Hardcastle's legal representative." Jo said, taking charge of the interview. "Mr Hardcastle, can you tell us where you bought the jewellery boxes you were selling on your stall?"

"I can't remember…"

"I don't believe you." Hannah told him abruptly.

Jo glanced sideways at the younger woman, before continuing. "Mr Hardcastle, inside these jewellery boxes we found large quantities of a banned substance, namely cocaine. If you don't tell us where you bought these boxes then we're going to have to charge you with intent to supply."

"There was a guy selling them cheap in the pub." The man admitted. "I realised I could make a decent profit, so I took them off his hands. I didn't know about the drugs, though."

"What did this man look like? Did you get a name?"

Hardcastle shook his head. "No, he never said."

"Convenient." Hannah muttered.

"Well what did he look like?" Jo pressed, openly glaring at the other woman.

"He was in his fifties, possibly sixties… grey hair, glasses… about five foot ten, very thin…" Hardcastle told them slowly, furrowing his eyebrows as he thought back to the man he'd bought the boxes from. "Oh… the barman called him Jinx."

Standing up abruptly, Hannah moved to the door. "DC McKay is leaving the room at… 2:56pm."

Jo's mouth fell open as the younger woman vanished from the room without a word of explanation. Hannah headed straight for the CID office, sitting at her desk and tapping at the computer's keyboard agitatedly. She typed a name into the database and smiled triumphantly as her theory proved to be correct. Closing down the programme, she retrieved a sheet of paper from the printer and headed back to the interview room.

"DC McKay has re-entered the room." She said, taking her seat and putting the paper on the table between her and Hardcastle. "Simon, is this the man who sold you the jewellery boxes?"

"Yeah… yeah! That's the guy."

"Fabulous." The red-head said. "Interview suspended at 3:08pm."

As she turned and left the interview room once more, Jo followed, grabbing her arm and forcing her to stop. "What the hell are you playing at?"

"Nigel Anderson, commonly known as Jinx, has previous convictions for possession with intent, dealing, intimidation, GBH and assault. He also has connections to all the big dealers in Canley, supplying pretty much the entire network. He's our man."

"How do you know this? You've been here all of five minutes." Jo demanded in frustration.

Turning away, Hannah started walking towards the exit. "I grew up in Sun Hill. I only moved away eight years ago."

"Where are you going? Another cigarette break?"

Fixing the brunette with an expression that clearly said she thought it was a stupid question, Hannah raised an eyebrow. "To bring Jinx in, obviously."

With a growl of frustration, Jo followed her quickly towards the pool car before she got left behind. She had only known the younger woman for about seven and a half hours and she was already infuriated by her. Wondering how Hannah knew where to look for the suspect, Jo sat in stony silence as they moved through the streets, not feeling inclined to engage in small talk.

"Hannah McKay." The red-head said answering her mobile on the second ring. She glanced sideways at Jo and saw that she was looking out of the window, apparently not paying any attention to her colleague. Pushing the hands-free device more firmly in place, she lowered her voice slightly. "Hiya, everything alright? Yeah? That's great! No… would you mind? You're a star. Alright, thanks darling."

Jo opened her mouth to question her colleague on the phone call but, seeing the closed expression on the younger woman's face, she thought better of it. They continued in silence, until Hannah pulled up outside a run-down semi-detached house that had obviously seen better days.

"This is it."

Jo glanced sideways at her. "How do you know?"

Not answering, the young woman stalked confidently up the path and banged on the front door, waiting for someone to open it. She didn't even have time to show her warrant card, before the man who had appeared grinned, looking her up and down.

"Well, well, well… Hannah McKay." He said, leering at her. "Long time no see."

"This isn't a social call, Jinx." She informed him shortly. "Nigel Anderson, you are under arrest for the sale and distribution of a banned substance. You do not have to say anything but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you may later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?" He smirked and nodded. Rolling her eyes, Hannah pulled him by the arm. "Just get in the bloody car."

* * *

_**Author's Note: Re-watching The Bill lately I remembered just how much I loved it. This idea wouldn't leave my head until I wrote it, so here it is!**_


	2. Chapter 2

"I don't know what you've done to Jo, but you've really managed to annoy her." DS Turner grinned at the young DC, perching on the edge of her desk.

"I didn't mean to, Sarge." She replied with a shrug. "I was just doing my job."

"Well you managed to get a big-time drug supplier off the streets, so I'm not complaining." He told her with another broad grin.

"Oh… did the market guy get released yet?"

"Just, I think… he tried to leave one of those jewellery boxes for you to say thank you, but Inspector Gold told him it wasn't allowed." Stuart told her with a shrug. "Listen, Hannah, d'you fancy going for a drink? Celebrating your first day and first success at Sun Hill?"

The pretty red-head's face fell slightly and she shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Oh, sorry, Sarge… I can't."

"Not even a quick one?"

"Sorry."

Never one to give up, Stuart looked at her as though trying to read her expression. "Boyfriend wouldn't like it?"

"It's nothing like that; I don't have a boyfriend… I just can't, sorry."

With a smile she stood up, shrugged on her jacket and headed towards the doors. Hannah's mobile started ringing before she reached them and she answered quickly.

"I'm just leaving now…" She said in a low voice. "I need to go to the shops, so I'll tell you about it when I get home."

"There's something odd about Hannah McKay that I can't put my finger on." Jo muttered, moving to stand next to Stuart as they both watched the young woman heading out of CID with her mobile clamped to her ear. "Anderson knew who she was before she showed her warrant card."

"Maybe she's dealt with him before?" He reasoned.

Jo shrugged. "She told him it wasn't a social call."

"Well she had a point."

"And she had a strange call earlier... it seemed like she didn't want me to hear it."

"Maybe she didn't."

The brunette glared at him. "You're annoying me as much as her now. She's totally unbelievable; wandering in and out of interviews, not telling me about information she's found, not to mention being rude to suspects and witnesses and looking completely disinterested most of the time."

"See, now I think you're over-compensating." Stuart chuckled. "She is very pretty; I wouldn't blame you for having a little crush, Jo. Besides, you might be in with a chance."

For a moment Jo just stared at him, then she narrowed her eyes and jabbed a finger into his chest. "You tried it on with her and she turned you down, didn't she?"

"Not at all. I just asked her out for a friendly drink."

"Whatever you say, Sarge." The woman replied with a grin. "Anyway, she's not my type; she has too high an opinion of herself, if you ask me."

x-x

"I'm home!" Hannah shouted, closing the front door with a bang as she tried to juggle several bulging bags of shopping. With a wince, she put the bags down and rubbed her hands together.

A small boy launched himself at her from the fourth step of the staircase, almost knocking her backwards as he barrelled into her. Hannah laughed and hugged him, only just managing to plant a kiss on the top of his head before he ran off again.

"Max?" She called, peering up the stairs. "Girls?"

A teenage boy appeared on the landing above her, leaning over the banister to look at the woman. "Alright?"

"Give me a hand with the shopping would you, babe?" Hannah requested, carrying one of the bags through to the kitchen. She smirked at the annoyed growl that her little brother aimed at her in response.

"Mum?" A tall, red-headed teenage girl called, poking her head around the doorframe between the kitchen and the room beyond it. "Oh, it is you."

"Of course it's me, Els... who else would it be, idiot?" Hannah grinned.

"No one…" Ellie agreed. "It's not like you have any friends or family except us. And I doubt that's going to change any time soon."

Rolling her eyes, the detective knew better than to take offence. "My daughter the optimist, ladies and gentlemen."

"So? Are you going to tell me about your day? How many nutters did you hunt down?"

"I'll sort dinner first, so go and finish your homework." She commanded, still unpacking the bags that Max had unceremoniously dumped on the kitchen table before disappearing back to his bedroom. "Where are Freya and Molly?"

"Molly's watching In the Night Garden in the living room and Freya's doing an essay."

Hannah nodded, stifling a yawn. "OK, babe, thanks. Did you manage to pick Moll up OK? I did warn Jasmine that you'd be coming, but you know what she's like."

"Yeah, yeah, fine…" The teenager agreed. "And Freya picked up Theo. Mrs Sanderson said to tell you that there's a school trip letter in his book bag that needs to be back by Friday. She said she knows you've got a head like a sieve."

The woman pulled a face at the mention of her son's teacher. Mrs Sanderson had been Hannah's teacher when she was six, the same age as Theo was now, and she still scared her. As the sixteen-year-old left the room, her mother yawned again. She filled the kettle and flipped the switch, waiting impatiently for it to boil and pouring herself a mug of strong black coffee. Realising she didn't have the energy to prepare much for dinner, she put a couple of pizzas in the oven and went in search of Theo's book bag.

"Are we boring you?" Freya demanded across the dinner table, raising an eyebrow as Hannah stifled her fifth yawn in as many minutes.

"Hmmm? Oh, sorry, babe… I'm exhausted; first day and all that."

"Go on then, Hans…" Max prompted, leaning forward interestedly. "What did you do today?"

"Paperwork…" She told him with a shrug. As his face fell, she grinned. "Nah, I'm only joking. The DCI asked me to work on a drugs case, which led to someone being arrested and charged. I don't think the DC I was working with particularly likes me, though."

"Surprise, surprise." Ellie muttered.

Freya sighed. "Hannah you could at least try and make friends at this station."

"Yes, Mum." The woman joked, rolling her eyes. "Since when have you been giving me advice?"

"Since I decided that you need it. You might be my older sister, but sometimes you need telling." The teenager told her. Standing up abruptly, Hannah started clearing the table. As she passed her sister, the blonde reached out and gripped her arm. "Don't get all defensive, Hans. I know it's been hard for you, but me and Ellie aren't kids anymore; we're sixteen."

"I'm not a kid either!" Max added.

"You're thirteen, Max, so you are still a kid."

"I'm only a year younger than you were when you had Ellie." The boy shot back at his sister.

Standing still at the sink with her back to the table, Hannah squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her jaw. She was too tired for this conversation and she definitely didn't want to have it in front of her younger children. Deep down she knew that her brother and sister and older daughter were just thinking of her, but she was so used to be the one looking after them that she felt like she was losing control as the tables started to turn.

Taking a deep breath and fixing a smile on her face, Hannah turned and walked back to the table, scooping Molly out of her high chair and ruffling Theo's hair. "Come on, it's nearly bedtime."

"Hannah…" Freya started, but the woman cut her off, firmly changing the subject.

"You know the deal; whoever finishes their homework first gets control of the remote. So off you go."

* * *

_**A/N: Hello lovelies. Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who read the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it... care to review? :)**_


	3. Chapter 3

"Hannah?"

The red-headed DC stopped, turning at the sound of her name. She shivered, pulling her coat more closely around her against the cold early December evening. It had been almost three months since she had transferred to Sun Hill and, although she'd given in to her family's nagging and made more of an effort to make friends amongst the team, details of her life outside the office were still very much on a need to know basis.

"Sam?"

"We're heading to the pub to celebrate getting a result on the Shaw case, if you fancy it?" The blonde DI told her with a warm smile. "I can give you a lift if you want and drop you home later?"

Suddenly remembering that her car was in the garage after taking Freya for her first, disastrous, driving lesson as a treat for the teenager's seventeenth birthday a week or so before, Hannah sighed wondering how she'd forgotten. She glanced at her watch quickly, internally debating whether to accept or not. The argument over her social life had resurfaced the weekend before, when Ellie had screamed that she was ruining her life just because her own was so boring. Remembering the argument over something as trivial as a trip to the cinema, which Hannah was unable to drive the girls to because she was working, caused the detective to make up her mind.

"Yeah, that sounds nice; if you're sure you don't mind?"

Sam, obviously surprised that the young woman had agreed, smiled. "Great, you ready then?"

"Oh… can you give me two minutes?" Hannah requested, pulling out her mobile.

"Sure." Her superior agreed moving a little way off as the red-head raised the phone to her ear.

"Hey, babe, it's me."

"Mum? Aren't you on your way home yet?"

"That's the thing… will you and Freya be alright watching the little ones tonight?"

Ellie sighed. "Are you working late again?"

"No… actually I'm going to the pub." Hannah told her. "But if you want me to come home–"

"No! God no, Mum." The teenager blurted out, making the detective laugh softly. "I mean, no, I want you to go and have a good time. Me and Freya can handle things here."

"Any problems, you ring me, alright?"

"Course. Who are you going out with?" Ellie asked eagerly. "Is it a date?"

Hannah laughed. "A date? You must be kidding; I'm done with all that. I'm just going for a couple of drinks with my colleagues, alright?"

"On a work night? Hannah McKay what has got into you?" The sixteen-year-old teased.

"Oh, behave!" Her mother laughed. "Give the kids a big kiss from me and, even though I'm not there, I expect bed times to be observed, OK? You've got school in the morning." Glancing up, she spotted Sam standing closer to her than she had been and jumped slightly, lowering her voice. "I've got to go; my DI is giving me a lift. Night, babe."

"Night, Mum. Stop worrying about us and have fun."

As she pocketed her mobile, Hannah walked the short distance to where the older woman was waiting for her. She wondered nervously whether Sam was about to ask questions about the phone call. It was obvious to Hannah that she must have heard some of what she'd said.

Sam didn't mention the conversation until they were in the warmth of her car, heading towards the pub. "So? Anything important you had to deal with?"

"Well…" Hannah wasn't sure how to answer. Her gut instinct had been to say no, but she couldn't bring herself to even pretend that her kids weren't important. "Yeah."

"Anything I can help you with?"

"No. No… thanks, Guv."

"Hannah, I've told you before; it's Sam." The blonde told her with a smile.

With a grin, the younger woman nodded. "Sorry, Sam. I'm just… well… my last DI was a right bitch and I've never really been on pub-going terms with work colleagues before."

"Were you that irritating at your last nick?"

Hannah laughed. "My last three nicks, apparently."

"You've worked at four nicks and you're… thirty-one?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow.

Tensing slightly as they strayed into territory that made the red-head uncomfortable, she shrugged and nodded. "I have been a copper for thirteen years, though, so it's not quite as bad as it sounds."

"So… here, Cardiff…"

"I started out as a PC at Barton Street for three and a half years, before transferring up to Manchester for six years, where I joined CID." Hannah told her, knowing that Sam would easily be able to find that out if she asked around.

"Why did you leave Barton Street?"

Hesitating, the red-head wondered whether to lie. Knowing that would look worse, she took a breath and looked pointedly out of the passenger window so that she wouldn't meet her superior's eyes. "I had an affair with the Superintendent."

"What?" Sam demanded, parking the car in the car park in front of the pub and turning to face the younger woman curiously. Evidently that had not been what she was expecting to hear.

"I was nineteen and he was forty-nine… I was skint and I had… he looked after me. I know it sounds awful, which is why I don't shout about it. There was no point lying to you, because you could find out the truth easily enough, Gu– Sam." Hannah admitted, still looking away from the blonde. She had almost blurted that she had done it to provide for the kids. "My life has never been exactly simple… I saw a chance to get some stability and I grabbed it. His wife found out and he offered to leave her; I didn't want him, so I ended the affair. It got out when his wife came into the station and screamed for everyone to hear that I was a cheap little home-wrecking whore. I realised I couldn't stay at Barton Street after that, so I asked for a transfer."

"Sensible move." Surprised, Hannah turned to face the blonde, sure that she'd misheard. Sam smiled and reached out, squeezing the younger woman's hand where it lay, balled into a fist in her lap. "We all do things we're ashamed of to survive. And you're right; you couldn't have stayed there. So, why did you leave Manchester?"

Paling slightly, the DC shrugged. "I was working undercover gathering evidence against a particularly violent pimp for three months. It ended when my handler messed up and they realised I was a detective. The guy I was investigating beat me up and raped me… I couldn't risk my k– I couldn't risk sticking around after that, even after he'd been sent down. The guy had a lot of contacts."

"Jesus!" Sam breathed, tightening her grip on Hannah's hand. "How did they let that happen?"

"It wasn't their fault, not really. You can probably believe that I wound my handler up; he never liked me from the start. I was only a Trainee DC and he didn't think I could handle it. I was so set on proving him wrong, that I took stupid risks. He was giving me a right bollocking and called me by my real name. Jamieson heard and put two and two together."

Sam's eyes widened. "Jamieson? Not Ashley Jamieson?"

"That's him."

"Oh my god. I've heard about that case… and it was you that collected the evidence? I'm impressed."

"It was worth what happened to get him locked away for a very long time." Hannah said with a nod. She didn't mention that it had also led to Molly being born, so she could never completely wish the operation had ended differently.

"How long ago was it?" The DI asked, wondering how much time the red-head had had to get over the attack.

"Three years ago yesterday." She admitted wryly.

Sam's mouth dropped open as she remembered the foul mood the red-head had been in the day before. She had been even more unpredictable than usual, although now her DI understood why. "Hannah! Why didn't you say anything?"

"It's not exactly the sort of thing that comes up in conversation, is it? Besides, why are you so interested?" The younger woman demanded defensively.

"We're friends, Han. Friends talk about things."

"I just… I've always kept my work and my personal life separate since Barton Street. It's just easier for everyone."

"Well that's not how it works at Sun Hill." Sam told her with a smile. "And trust me; trying to keep things to yourself around here won't last long." She regarded her colleague carefully. "That phone call? Was it your family?"

"My daughter, Ellie." Hannah admitted, going against her natural instincts. "I was checking she would be alright to watch the younger kids for a couple of hours."

Sam narrowed her eyes slightly. "How old is she?"

"Sixteen, I wouldn't have considered leaving them otherwise." She noticed the shock on the blonde's face and smiled humourlessly. "Yes, I was only fourteen when I had her."

"How many kids have you got?"

"Five. Well, I've got three kids; Ellie, Theo and Molly. But I'm the legal guardian of my seventeen-year-old sister and thirteen-year-old brother."

"You weren't kidding about your life not being simple." Her superior said slowly, shaking her head.

Hannah copied the movement. "You don't know the half of it."

"So tell me."

"I'm keeping you from a glass of wine." The younger woman said weakly, moving to pull the door handle.

"Wine can wait…" Sam told her firmly, before pulling a face. "I never thought I'd say that."

"On my first day at Sun Hill we arrested a drug dealer; Nigel Anderson." Hannah said slowly. "I think Jo was suspicious about how I knew him and how he knew me. The truth is that Anderson was my parents' dealer. If you run my parents' names through Crimint you'll see a whole list of offences. They lived from one fix to the next. That's why social services let me take Freya and Max when Ellie and I left their house, even though I was just nineteen and Max was only ten months old."

"Do you know something?" The blonde said after a couple of moments contemplating the woman's words. "I knew you were tough, but I didn't realise how tough. I mean it, I knew you were a great copper, but my respect for you as a person has just gone way up."

"Because before you just thought I was a sarcastic, self-centred loose-cannon without a reason?"

Sam laughed softly. "Now I know that you're a sarcastic, self-centred loose-cannon who manages to get brilliant results despite winding everyone around her up without even noticing, but at least there's an explanation for it."

"I don't mean to annoy people. I know I can be a bitch." The younger woman told her quietly, suddenly looking much younger than her thirty-one years. She had shrunk down in the seat almost as though it made her feel safer. Letting Sam know her secrets had made Hannah feel vulnerable and she didn't like it. But now she'd started, she couldn't stop. "I've been taking care of myself and the kids my entire life. It's become a habit that's shaped the way I work. No one has ever been there for me, so I automatically assume I've got to rely on myself." She sighed, thinking about the case she'd been working on for the past couple of days and her turbulent relationship with her fellow DC. "Jo really doesn't like me, does she?"

"You're not her favourite person." The DI admitted with a smile, rubbing the younger woman's leg gently. "But she does know you're bloody good at your job."

"It's never really bothered me before; people not liking me, I mean. But now… Maybe it's because I'm planning on sticking around here for as long as possible."

The DI raised an eyebrow. "Are you?"

"The kids like it here and they need stability. I've got to stop carting them around and let them settle. Freya and Ellie have another year and a half at school and then, hopefully, they'll be off to University. When Molly starts school I don't want her to go to more than one, like the others have. It's not fair on them."

"They like it here, do you?"

Hannah nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I do."

Sam smiled warmly. "Good… now let's go and get a drink and see if we can trick DC Masters into liking you."

"You won't tell anyone about… well, anything… will you?" The young woman asked, her tone as close to begging as it ever got.

"I reckon I can manage that." Her friend agreed with a smile. "Although I can't promise how long you can keep this quiet, especially as you're hoping to stick around."

* * *

**_A/N: I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who's read this! Fancy leaving a review as well? :)_**

**_Also, I should probably say that this fic is set sometime during series 23._**


	4. Chapter 4

As Hannah headed into the office the next morning, she met the grinning face of her DI and groaned.

"Suffering, DC McKay?" Sam asked, folding her arms and leaning against the water cooler as the younger woman poured herself a cup.

"Nope, I'm fine. Nothing that strong black coffee and a cigarette or two won't cure." Hannah told her, pulling a face and swallowing a couple of painkillers. "Now I know why I usually refuse to go for a drink with coppers. How can you possibly not be hungover?"

"Oh, don't worry, I felt as though I had actually died this morning. My painkillers have already kicked in." The blonde assured her with a chuckle. "By the way, did you know that Stuart apparently told Jo he thought you were a lesbian because you turned him down on your first day?"

Hannah snorted with laughter, almost spraying the petite DI with water. "Oww!" She moaned, clutching her head. "He didn't? How do you know that?"

"Jo told me last night. You wanna watch yourself, though; Stuart and Phil have got one of their stupid competitions going to see who can get you to agree to go out with them."

"Men!" The red-head exclaimed. "I'm glad I've had my kids because I'm right off them."

Sam arched an eyebrow and smirked. "Don't let Stuart hear you talking like that or he'll think he's right."

"I'm sure it would make his day." Hannah muttered, raising her eyebrows as the Detective Sergeant in question passed them, winking as he did so. "Honestly."

"Ah! Just the woman I was looking for." Phil said smoothly, grinning at Hannah as he stopped in front of her. "The DCI wants us on an attempted murder case."

"Brilliant!" She replied with a grin. Seeing the amused expression on Sam's face, she backtracked. "Well, obviously not brilliant, but… oh, just tell me what's going on, Phillip."

He smirked and motioned for her to follow him out of the office, explaining the case as they walked. As he described the incident, Hannah's gut feeling was that it was probably the result of years of domestic violence by the victim, Oliver Garcia, against his wife, Charlotte. Phil, however, thought that it was a straight-forward case of attempted murder.

"Listen, Sarge… what reason would Charlotte Garcia have for battering her husband with a rolling pin? What's the motive?" She asked as they got out of the car at the Garcia's house. Hannah had wanted to have a good look round the crime scene before she even considered interviewing the suspect. "Just one look at her medical records should set alarm bells ringing… and that's just what she got treatment for. Besides, you said yourself everyone described her as not being able to say boo to a goose."

"It's always the quiet ones you have to watch out for, Hannah." Phil joked, standing aside and ushering her into the house first. "That's why I know you're not going to try and kill me."

"Wanna bet?" She muttered, raising an eyebrow. He just smirked at her. "Right… so where was Mr Garcia found?"

"Here…" Phil propelled his colleague through the hall and into the living room, grinning even more broadly as she swatted his hands away from her hips and smacked him on the chest for good measure. "He was found here with a fractured skull and three broken ribs. Still sound like she isn't capable of it?"

"So what else do we know that's actual fact, rather than just your speculations?"

"Well it looks like they had a right barney before the attack." Phil pointed out, glancing around the room quickly.

Hannah had to admit that there had definitely been a violent argument. Photo frames and crockery lay smashed on the carpet and the remnants of a dining chair were scattered around amongst them. The red-head picked her way carefully past the worst of the damage and picked up a photo off the ground.

"What you got there?"

"A wedding photo. The daughter?" She told Phil, turning the picture to show him. "Nice dress."

"You ever got hitched?"

She snorted. "Me? Nah… it's not really my thing. And before you get any ideas it's not because I'm a lesbian, because I'm not." At the look of surprise on his face she grinned. "You boys and your egos… I turned down Stuart's offer of a drink for the simple reason that I didn't want to go for a drink. Now, can we get back to business please?"

"With pleasure." He nodded, looking slightly smug as he glanced around the room. "I think we should pop in at St Hugh's and see how Mr Garcia is, then get back and see what Mrs Garcia has to say."

"Right you are, Sarge."

All the way to the hospital Phil and Hannah good-naturedly argued with each other. She was still convinced that Charlotte Garcia's attack must have been the result of years of violence, whereas he refused to believe it. In Phil's opinion, the severity of the attack suggested it was pre-meditated, whereas Hannah was adamant that the woman had probably lashed out in fear or desperation.

"Why are you so keen to defend her?" Phil demanded as they walked into the hospital a while later. "Why are you so sure that he attacked her first?"

"Why not?" Hannah replied with a shrug. "I've seen this far too many times. Why are you so against it being an option?"

Walking onto the intensive care ward, a nurse showed them to the private room where Mr Garcia was. Phil asked the doctor for an update on his condition, while Hannah moved to look through the window at the unconscious patient. She was surprised to see a young woman sitting beside the bed, holding Mr Garcia's hand.

"Who're you?" The detective demanded, bursting into the room without thinking.

Looking highly affronted, the woman rounded on her, scowling. "I'm Francesca Garcia-Wright; his daughter. Who are you?"

"Sorry for my colleague's bluntness." Phil apologised smoothly, smiling at the young woman who was still glaring at Hannah, who had rolled her eyes at the man's predictable reaction to a pretty face. "I'm DS Hunter, this is DC McKay. We're investigating your father's attack."

"Yeah? So why have you got my mother in custody?"

Glancing at Phil, Hannah chewed her lip. "I'm sorry to have to tell you that she's our main suspect."

"Well clearly you're an idiot, as well as being incredibly rude." The woman snapped at her, folding her arms defensively.

"I understand that this is difficult for you," the red-head told her, working hard to keep her temper under control, "but she was discovered with the rolling pin that was used to cause your father's injuries in her hands."

Scowling darkly, Francesca jabbed a finger in Hannah's direction. "My mother, DC McKay, wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Mrs Garcia-Wright," Phil jumped in smoothly, "when you have a moment perhaps you could pop into the station to have a word with us. It might help us clear a few things up."

"I wasn't there. I've been at work since eight o'clock this morning."

"If you really want to help your mother you'll come into the station and talk to us." Hannah told her in annoyance.

Before his DC could infuriate Mrs Garcia-Wright any more, Phil smiled and ushered her quickly out of the room. She was still angry when they pulled up in the yard outside the station, ranting about people taking them for granted and being only too happy to let them work out their problems, but never feeling the need to thank them.

Phil rolled his eyes and sent her up to CID to pick up a couple of files before they interviewed Mrs Garcia. Hannah stormed up the stairs and into the office like a hurricane, slamming files around on Phil's desk in an attempt to find the ones she was looking for. Ignoring the questioning looks from her colleagues and seemingly oblivious of Sam and Mickey's attempts to talk to her, she leant heavily on the desk with her palms flat against its surface. Kicking Phil's bin in frustration, she finally managed to lay her hands on the relevant paperwork and stormed back through the office, letting the doors bang closed behind her.

"Right… let's make a bet." Phil suggested after they'd poured through all the information and Hannah had finally calmed down. She was still adamant that Mrs Garcia might have acted in self-defence, while Phil was totally unconvinced by her theory. "If you're right, I'll buy you dinner and if I'm right, dinner's on you."

She arched an eyebrow. "So you win either way?"

"I'd like to think it will be pleasurable for us both." He murmured, leaning close to her.

"Really?" Hannah asked, smirking. "We'll see, Phillip; I'm not a very good loser."

By the end of the interview with Charlotte Garcia it was plain for anyone to see that, after years of physical and emotional abuse the woman had snapped and attacked her husband. Smugly, Hannah grinned as they left the interview room, feeling totally triumphant. She reminded him of their bet as they made their way back up to CID.

"Looks like dinner's on me, then." He told her with a wink.

"DC McKay?" The DCI called as soon as they entered the office. Hannah's heart sank at the expression on his face. "My office, please."

"I'll wait for you." Phil muttered as she passed him, pulling a face.

"What's up, Guv?" Hannah asked, thinking she had a good idea what was heading her way.

He motioned for her to take a seat before he spoke. "I've received a concern about you from Mr and Mrs Garcia's daughter. She claims that you were rude and unprofessional when you spoke to her at the hospital this afternoon."

"Guv, it wasn't my fault." She defended herself at once. "I might not be the most tactful person, but she was really rude to me. She asked what her mother was doing at the station so I explained and she said I was an idiot. I tried to point out that we were working with the evidence we had but she wasn't interested in listening to me."

"And Phil will agree that you weren't unnecessarily rude?" Jack asked.

"Of course."

"Right, well… this is you having your wrist slapped. Just try and keep your temper under wraps in future, Hannah. I don't want to see you storming around the office again, understand?"

"Yes, Guv." She agreed, nodding meekly.

As soon as she was out of the office, Hannah took a deep breath and rubbed her hand over her face wearily. She slumped against the wall behind her, leaning her head against the surface and closing her eyes. Her feeling of triumph at proving Phil Hunter wrong had evaporated, leaving her with a hollow, empty feeling. She was glad that it was the end of her shift and she could go home and submerge herself in the problems of her family instead of her own issues.

"You in trouble, Han?"

Jumping, the red-head looked sideways and smiled at the blonde DI. "Nothing I can't handle."

"What was all that slamming of drawers about earlier?"

"I lost my temper with Mr and Mrs Garcia's daughter… she was a right cow to me and all smiles with Phil. Women make me sick, sometimes." She muttered.

Sam smirked. "Is working with Phil that bad?"

"Not really, he's decent enough… but I may have agreed to have dinner with him."

"I know that."

The woman stared at her in astonishment. "How do you know?"

"Phil's in there gloating."

Hannah narrowed her eyes. "Right…"

She stalked towards CID, pushing open the doors, moving quickly to her desk and gathering up her things without looking at either Phil or Stuart. As she attempted to leave the office without speaking to either of them, Phil reached out and caught her arm.

"I thought we were having dinner?" He asked.

"I've changed my mind." The woman informed him with a shrug.

"Why?"

Looking him up and down, she frowned. "I refuse to be used as part of some testosterone fuelled ego-fest between you and Stuart. Yes, I know all about your stupid little bet and you both lose because I refuse to go out with either of you. Goodnight."

Without another word Hannah stalked out of CID, coming to a halt beside Sam who grinned at her. "Feel better?"

Hannah grinned. "A lot."

"Pub?"

"Nah, after last night I should go home. I actually got a lecture off my sister this morning about coming home in such a state."

Sam laughed. "Just wait until she's the one rolling in totally hammered."

"I'm looking forward to it." The younger woman replied sarcastically. Then she smiled and turned towards the stairs. "Night, Sam."


	5. Chapter 5

Somehow Hannah managed to get the few days off around Christmas. She assumed, correctly, that Sam had been behind the scheduling being in her favour and bought her friend practically an entire vat of wine to thank her. The DI had laughed and demanded that on New Year's Eve they would get together and drink it together. As good as her word, Sam had turned up on Hannah's doorstep with Phil, her daughter and grandson in tow to celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of the next.

The next morning the red-head had left her family in the care of her guests and headed into work on less than three hours sleep, where she found herself being assigned to a murder case with Jo. The brunette had wondered aloud why MIT weren't taking over and the DCI had told her that until they knew more it was officially a CID case. Wishing she'd got to bed a little earlier, Hannah got into the passenger's seat as Jo drove them towards the crime scene, ignoring the digs about her fragile state.

"So what do we know?" The red-head asked the Crime Scene Examiner who met them outside as they arrived in the driveway of an expensive looking detached house.

"The victim is an IC1 female, blonde and probably in her early thirties. We haven't got an identity as yet." Lorna Hart told them as they made their way through the hall. "She was found lying on the floor in the living room with a stab wound in her chest."

"Why are almost all the bodies we deal with in houses found in the living room?" Hannah wondered aloud, more to herself than the others.

They passed PC Casper standing outside the living room door, looking slightly green. "It's horrible…" He muttered as both detectives looked at him with concern. "Beth's had to go and get some air."

Entering the room, slightly apprehensively, Hannah's mouth dropped open at the sight that greeted her. Initially her attention was drawn to the lifeless, headless body lying in the middle of the carpet. The dead woman's clothes were ripped and dirty; a nasty blood stain extending from the wound in her chest.

"You never said she'd been decapitated." Jo muttered accusingly as her colleague crouched beside the body, one hand over her mouth.

"Considering it was New Year's Eve last night, I'd have expected legless…" Hannah joked weakly. Her stomach lurched dangerously as she glanced round at the brunette and spotted the woman's missing head sitting on a shelf a little way off, as though she was surveying the scene. She went hot and cold at the same time and was forced to grab at the sideboard beside her to prevent herself crumpling. "Fuck me…"

Following her gaze, Jo gasped and leapt away from it. "That's disgusting."

"I know her…" The red-head muttered quietly, realising that she recognised the woman. "That's Tina Ogilvy; she was in my form at Canley Comp."

Glad of an excuse to leave the room, the detectives left the Crime Scene Examiners to do their job and headed back to the station to see what they could dig up about Tina. Hannah was unusually quiet as they drove through the streets, shuddering occasionally as she tried to match up the disembodied head with the attitude-filled teenager she had once been.

Excusing herself for a moment, Hannah headed outside and fumbled in her pocket for her cigarettes and lighter. Her hand was shaking as she lit up, taking a drag and breathing out deeply. Closing her eyes, she leant her head against the wall thinking about the corpse with disgust. Once she had finished the cigarette, she went back inside and made her way back to CID, moving to stand behind Jo's chair and looking at the computer screen over her shoulder.

"Good fag?" Jo asked sarcastically. "Anyway, Tina Ogilvy was a prostitute working for a pimp named Adam Lewis."

"I went to school with him, too. He was a couple of years above us."

"Well aren't you well connected?" The brunette muttered.

Ignoring her, Hannah tapped at the screen thoughtfully. "Who else works for Lewis? Maybe she was working last night."

"I've already checked on that… apparently they work from Barnley Road near the Larkmead Estate. When I looked up Lewis several other names came up; not all prostitutes. Apart from Tina, we've got Shona Williams, Courtney Carr and Lindsey Banner working for him."

"Shona Williams was best mates with Tina when we were at school, but I don't know the other two." The younger woman said quickly, moving to sit on the edge of Jo's desk.

"There's also a Lauren Teal listed as an associate, although when I ran her through Crimint she's only been questioned about an alleged assault on another young woman, but the charges were dropped." Glancing at Hannah, she raised an eyebrow. "I suppose you're about to tell me you know her as well."

Hannah nodded. "Yeah, she was mates with Tina and Shona."

"Maybe it would just be easier if you listed off their friends and we tried to work this case out that way?" Jo suggested sarcastically.

Clenching her jaw, the younger DC stood up quickly. "You know what, I might just do that."

Dropping into her own desk chair, Hannah jabbed angrily at the computer keyboard, glad that she sat with her back to the brunette. Logging onto Crimint she ran a check on Tina Ogilvy herself, wanting to read the information with her own eyes. Chewing the end of the biro she'd been twirling between her fingers, Hannah narrowed her eyes at the screen trying to make connections.

"You alright, Han?" A soft voice asked. A split-second later Sam perched on her desk. "According to Jo you knew the murdered woman that was found this morning."

"Yeah, I did." She agreed, leaning back in the chair and folding her arms.

"Would you prefer to be taken off the case?"

Shaking her head firmly, Hannah smiled and spoke in a low voice. "Not at all. I knew Tina, but we weren't exactly friends. She and her friends made my life hell after Ellie was born. They were the popular kids; you know the type. I just kept my head down and got on with stuff. I didn't have much to do with them, really, except when they were having a go at me."

"I bet you gave as good as you got." Sam said with a smile.

"You could say that." Hannah agreed with a chuckle. "Anyway, I'm totally fine working this case, it's just…"

Raising an eyebrow, the DI guessed where that sentence was going. "Jo?"

"She's doing my head in already."

"The DCI is going to keep making sure you work together until you manage to get past this." Sam told her with a shrug. "His dream of a team in harmony isn't going to be put off just because you and Jo are too similar not to argue occasionally."

"Similar?" Hannah scoffed.

"You're both incredibly driven, passionate, perceptive and neither of you are able to concede that you might be mistaken. You are very similar."

"Yeah, well… going to interview Lewis and the others is going to be a barrel of laughs, especially if any of their nicknames for me come out."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Nicknames?"

"Han-skank and Pramface were the favourites…. so inventive." She shrugged. "I never let it get to me, because then they would have won. I can handle them… I'm just not sure I want Jo knowing."

"She wouldn't use it against you." The blonde assured her gently, squeezing her arm. "It might even make her soften towards you. Think about it from Jo's perspective; she has no idea why you act like you do sometimes."

With a sigh, Hannah had to concede that her friend might be right. She was about to swallow her pride and admit it, when the brunette strode towards her, shooting her a look of annoyance.

"Let's go and talk to Lewis."

Grabbing her jacket, Hannah shot Sam a weary smile and headed out of CID, jogging to catch up with the older woman.

x-x

"Adam Lewis?" Jo asked, flashing her warrant card at the bored looking man who leant lazily in the doorway of his house looking her up and down. Hannah was standing with her back to him, not wanting to turn and meet his eyes. "DC Masters and DC McKay, Sun Hill CID."

"DC McKay?" He asked interestedly, peering past Jo as Hannah reluctantly turned. His face split into a malicious grin as he recognised her. "Alright, Pramface? You haven't changed at all."

Obviously wondering about the nickname, the brunette DC shot a glance at her colleague, who had composed her face into a look of distain. "Can we come in, Mr Lewis?"

"Course… it'll be nice to catch up with Han-skank."

"I'm afraid this is a serious matter, Mr Lewis." Hannah told him shortly as they made their way through into his living room. "Can you tell us where you were last night between eight pm and 4 am?"

"If you're looking for a date, Hannah, I'm attached." He informed her cheekily. "Although I don't imagine that bothers you? Yeah, Jake told us all about your little fling with your boss."

Feeling anger bubbling up inside her, the red-head worked hard to control it. "We're investigating a murder, Mr Lewis. Tina Ogilvy, one of the prostitutes working for you, was found dead this morning."

Jo took over, sensing the anger radiating off her colleague. "So where were you last night?"

"It was New Year's." He replied with a shrug. "I was with some mates. And I resent the insulation you just made about my line of business."

"Can you be more specific?"

"You called me a pimp."

Hannah growled. "I meant specific about where you were last night."

"I was down the Canley Arms from about seven 'til just before three. Then I came back here with my girlfriend and went to bed."

"And your girlfriend's name is…?" Jo asked, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"Lizzy Pager."

"Where can we contact her?"

"She's at her Mum's; number 13, Atwell House on the Larkmead. Just down from where you used to live, init, Han?" He said with a smirk. Hannah felt her anger rising again.

"When did you last see Tina?" She asked expressionlessly.

"A couple of days ago." Adam said with a shrug. "I don't see why you're so bothered about tracking down her killer… she wouldn't have done the same for you."

"It's my job, Mr Lewis," Hannah snapped, "protecting decent people from scum like you."

Sensing that the red-head was about to say something to get them into trouble, Jo stood up abruptly. "Well, thank you for your time. We might be in touch with more questions."

The man smirked and let his gaze linger on Hannah. "I'll look forward to it. See you around, Pramface."

* * *

**_A/N: Thank you for reading! Special thanks to MissWritingStorysObsessed for favouriting and following!_**

**_Wanna leave a review? I'd be eternally grateful! :)_**


	6. Chapter 6

Hannah strode from the house and almost threw herself into the pool car, slamming the door closed behind her and waiting for Jo to get in. Ignoring her colleague's protests, she wound down the window and lit a cigarette with shaking hands before kicking the engine into life and driving quickly away. It took the woman a couple of moments to remember the existence of speed limits and slow down. She could feel Jo's questioning glare burning into the side of her head but kept her gaze firmly on the road, clutching the steering wheel tightly with one hand and her cigarette with the other.

"Why was he calling you Pramface? Who's Jake?" Jo asked quietly.

"I had a kid when I was fourteen, alright?" Hannah snapped before she could stop herself. "And Jake… Jake doesn't matter." Taking a deep breath, she indicated and pulled over, turning off the engine and resting her head back against the seat. "Maybe I should ask to be taken off this case."

"No way." Jo vetoed her suggestion at once.

Glancing at her in surprise, Hannah frowned lightly. She had thought that the older woman would have agreed at once. "Why not? I almost lost it in there."

"Lewis was asking for a smack." Jo replied with a shrug. "I have a feeling that this is going to be a tough case and, as much as I hate to admit it, we're gonna need both of us on it."

"Even though I'm such a nightmare to work with?" The red-head asked with the ghost of a smirk on her lips.

Jo shrugged. "Sam told me that there was more to you than I was seeing. I guess she was right. But if we're gonna work together in something resembling harmony, however loosely, you have to tell me what's going on, Hannah."

"I'll try, I'm sorry."

"I never expected to hear you apologise for anything, DC McKay."

Hannah grinned. "Well, DC Masters, you've obviously got a lot to learn about me."

"Tell me about it." Jo muttered, rolling her eyes. "I can't imagine you with a child."

Flicking the cigarette end out of the window and turning the key, starting the car once more, Hannah glanced over her shoulder and pulled out of the space. "Try five."

"F-Five?" The older woman spluttered. "No wonder you're such a grumpy cow most of the time."

Laughing softly and feeling the same weight being lifted off her as she had done once she'd confided in Sam, the red-head briefly explained her complicated personal life to the brunette as they headed back to the station. She had half expected Jo to be judgemental or make some snide comment, but it was as though the tenseness between them had evaporated as soon as Hannah let the secret slip out.

"I didn't realise you…"

"You didn't realise what?" Hannah asked her colleague curiously as they pulled up outside the station.

"Well, I guessed there must have been something that made you as tough as you are, but I never imagined all that."

"I realised at a young age you've just got to get on with whatever cards you're dealt in life."

"You've done well to make it to DC with five kids to look after."

"I can't say it wasn't hard, but I'm glad I did it."

"So how exactly did you do it?"

"Working all hours and wearing myself out." The younger woman admitted, looking straight ahead of her at the building. "My transfer up North from Barton Street was good because it led to my promotion to CID, as well as having Theo and Molly."

"Why did you leave Manchester?"

Hannah hesitated. "I was undercover investigating Ashley Jamieson… heard of him?"

"Who hasn't?" Jo muttered with a shrug. "I've got a couple of mates still in Manchester. Were you involved in Operation Midnight? Didn't he attack an officer when he discovered he was being investigated?" The look on Hannah's face was all she needed to realise the truth. "Oh, god, Hannah…"

"So I couldn't stay in Manchester. I tried but it was too much. Then I discovered I was pregnant with Molly…"

"Is Molly Jamieson's daughter?" Jo asked, making the correct connections.

The red-head nodded. "None of the kids know. As far as they're concerned her dad is another useless man who couldn't be arsed to stick around, just like the rest of them." She sighed and shrugged. "We liked Cardiff, though."

"Why did you come back to Canley then?"

"Family reasons."

"Is that all I'm getting?" Jo asked with a smirk.

"Yep." Hannah glanced sideways and smiled. "What about you? That's a Manchester accent, what brings you here?"

The other woman smiled. "Family reasons."

"Fair enough." The younger woman conceded with a laugh. "What about you? You ever wanted kids?"

Jo shrugged. "I guess… but it doesn't really come with the territory."

"Don't be stupid." Hannah said, arching an eyebrow. "There's ways and means. The Inspector at my last nick had a baby with her girlfriend not long before I left. You just have to find a willing donor."

"I had a similar conversation with Terry once…"

"You're kidding?" The red-head asked, stifling a grin. "Did he offer?"

"He said I couldn't afford him."

Hannah laughed and pulled the key from the ignition, glancing at the station. "We should get in and do some work. Thanks for listening, Jo. Before I told Sam I'd never told anyone most of that. I used to rather people didn't know and just thought I was a stuck-up bitch. Maybe I'm getting old, but I can't do that anymore."

"Old?" Jo smirked. "Sweetheart I'm five years older than you, so watch what you're saying."

Laughing, they climbed out of the pool car and headed through the double doors. Climbing the stairs to CID they returned their attention to the case. In the office Hannah offered to fetch coffee, an offer that Jo gratefully accepted, moving to sit at her desk and trawl through the forensic report from the crime scene while she waited for the younger woman to come back.

Both women were completely oblivious of the confused looks being sent in their direction by their colleagues as Hannah returned and handed Jo a small plastic cup of coffee. She perched on the edge of Jo's desk and laughed at something the brunette said, pushing her shoulder gently and rolling her eyes.

As their talk turned back to the case once more, Jo furrowed her eyebrows. "This says that her head was removed before she died…"

"That's disgusting!" Hannah exclaimed, almost snatching the notes out of her hand to look more closely. She pulled the crime scene photos towards her and flicked through them quickly. Looking closely at the one of the head on the shelf, she held back a shudder, focusing on the flesh that had been cut apart. "Look… bruises… I reckon she was strangled too. Maybe it didn't kill her… maybe it wasn't intended to kill her… but what if the killer strangled her until she passed out and then whacked her head off?"

"But there's no mention here of petechial hemorrhages." Jo pointed out, reminding the younger woman of the lack of red or purple blotches on the victim.

"Yeah, but if the asphyxiation didn't kill her there wouldn't be." She reasoned. "Think about it; to decapitate someone so perfectly when they were still alive he'd either have had to get her to agree to it or knock her out first. Toxicology's negative for tranquilisers and… well, everything."

Slowly, Jo nodded. "You might be on to something…"

"Why thank you, DC Masters." Hannah grinned.

Flicking through the photos again, she looked closely at the photo of the body, holding it nearer as she examined the victim's hand. "Is that a tattoo?"

"No, it's a stamp from a club." Jo corrected her, taking the photo to look properly. "Sekushi on the Canley High Road."

"How d'you know that?" Hannah asked, unable to stop herself laughing.

"Maybe you're not the only one with things to learn, DC McKay." Jo told her with a grin. "I'd say we should get down there and check it out."

Nodding, Hannah grabbed her coat and walked out of CID with Jo, deep in conversation about possible follow-ups to what they had just discovered. As they left, Sam crossed the office and perched on Phil's desk with a grin.

"What's got into them?" He asked the DI. "When they left I thought we would be investigating one of their deaths by the end of the shift and then they came back acting like best friends."

Sam just shrugged, smirking to herself and changed the subject, chasing the DS up on some reports she needed.

* * *

_**A/N: Thank you to everyone for reading! Special thanks to Pitbull Almighty and MissWritingStorysObsessed for the reviews! :)**_


	7. Chapter 7

"Can we take a look at your CCTV tapes from last night, Mr Chamberlain?" Hannah inquired, shooting the manager her brightest smile.

"Of course." He agreed at once, leering at her. Without moving his gaze from the red-head he gestured away to the left. "If your colleague wants to follow James, he'll show her to the office."

Jo glared at Hannah as she followed the slightly nervous man from the bar. While she waited for the brunette to return with the footage, the younger woman asked innocuous questions, learning much more about the manager and the club than he suspected. He was just handing her a business card and suggesting they meet up some time when Jo reappeared with a couple of disks.

Raising an eyebrow as they strode out of the club, Jo shook her head. "You've been working with Phil and Stuart too much."

Grinning, Hannah couldn't help but agree. "Maybe I have picked up a few tips about turning on the charm once in a while."

"So? Are you going to ring him?"

Looking at her colleague over the roof of the pool car, she raised an eyebrow. "You are joking? The only calls I'll be making involving him are to tip off the drugs squad and whoever deals with underage clubbers. Besides, he's really not my type."

Their eyes met as she spoke. For a moment they just looked at each other and then Jo looked down hurriedly and Hannah felt herself blushing slightly. Frowning at her reaction, she shook her head and got into the car quickly.

"Right, what do we know?" Jo asked once they were heading back to the station. "Tina Ogilvy was definitely there last night with a group of women. There was an altercation with the bouncers when they accused them of touting for trade, which was resolved when the manager apologised and offered them a free drink."

"We need to find her on the CCTV and get IDs on the women she was with." Hannah sighed, stating the obvious. "I think we should drop these tapes off at the station and get someone from Uniform to go through them."

Nodding in agreement, her colleague drove them hastily back to the police station where they handed over the tapes to Leela and Sally, along with one of the photos of Tina Ogilvy they had and instructions of what they were looking for. Returning to the office, Jo took another look at the photographs while Hannah ran the manager of Sekushi through Crimint.

"Han… I've just realised something really obvious." Jo muttered, looking up at her quickly. "There's no blood anywhere at the crime scene."

"What?" Jumping out of her chair, Hannah moved to look at the photos too. "Nowhere? We only saw the living room… I assumed there was blood somewhere else."

"No, look… no blood anywhere."

"So she was killed somewhere else and put there? Why? Any news on the house owners?"

"They've got a holiday house in France and they've been there for two weeks. Apparently they won't be back until the end of the month."

Raising an eyebrow, Hannah sighed. "Alright for some."

"Yeah, well, imagine going home and seeing a head on your shelf." Jo reminded her.

Hannah winced. "Fair point." She glanced at her watch. "And on that note, I'm off before my child-minder decides to charge overtime. See you tomorrow."

x-x

"Mum… can I go to the cinema tonight?" Ellie asked with her best smile.

Hannah looked up from her breakfast and shook her head, hastily swallowing her mouthful of cereal. All that had been left in the cupboard were Theo's coco pops. "It's your first day back at school after Christmas tomorrow; you know the rules."

"Yes, but it's Wednesday, so that means two for one tickets."

"Ellie… I really don't have time to argue this with you now."

The teenager scowled. "This is so unfair! Why are you so strict when you got to do whatever you wanted when you were my age?"

"Technically when I was your age I did nothing but school work and look after you and Freya." Hannah reminded her, loading the numerous cups and bowls and plates into the dishwasher hastily. "But you know that I had so much freedom because my parents were high on smack almost all the time. That might sound brilliant to you, but when there were strange people going in and out of the house constantly and you had absolutely nothing because everything got sold to feed their habit, it wasn't so great."

"Yeah, yeah, tough life, sob story, I know…" Ellie muttered. "But please can I go?"

Her mother was about to reply, when her phone began to ring and she held up a hand to shush the teenager. "Hannah McKay… really? Shit… OK. I'm on my way."

"What now?"

"Something's come up at work."

The teenager rolled her eyes. "I guessed that. What is it? Some old lady lost her glasses?"

"A woman's been murdered." Hannah informed her stonily, moving into the hall. "We've got to go now, guys!"

There was a sudden commotion as they all scrambled around getting ready. Used to Hannah being called in early they were well-practised in getting very little warning and, within ten minutes, they'd piled into the seven-seater and were rushing towards Sam's house seeing as Abi had agreed to babysit.

"No cinema." Hannah called as they headed through the front door of her DI's house. Hearing the cascade of obscenities tumbling from Ellie's mouth, she smirked. "I heard that."

Waving to Abi, the young detective turned the car around and headed straight for the station. She completely forgot that she wasn't driving her Lexus until she had parked and was locking up. Swearing softly, she decided that there was nothing she could do about it and went inside.

Jo was already in the office when Hannah walked into CID. She glanced up from whatever she was reading and smiled warmly. The red-head felt a strange warmth settle inside her chest and frowned slightly, wondering why. Then she walked to her desk and dropped her things on it, before moving to sit on Jo's.

"It looks like we might be looking at a serial killer, then." She said, pulling a face.

"I can't believe he's done it again… Tina was only discovered yesterday morning."

"He's not hanging around, is he? Do we know anything yet?"

Jo shook her head. "No, I was waiting for you before going down there."

"Aww… thanks; so sweet." Hannah teased. "Come on, then."

It turned out that the second victim was none other than Lauren Teal, Tina's school friend. With such an obvious link between the two victims the two women began working in earnest to work out a motive. Like Tina, Lauren had a Sekushi stamp on the back of her hand, so the detectives headed back to the club to ask more questions.

"I'm convinced that there has to be some significance of both women going to that club on the night they died."

"But they knew each other well and probably had lots of mutual friends." Jo pointed out shaking her head. "And then there's the fact that they were both found in houses where the occupants were out of the country long term. Surely all these things combined should be making this easier than it is?"

Hannah sighed, rubbing her eyes wearily. "Have we found any links between the houses? Do they use any of the same companies? Cleaners or gardeners, maybe?"

"Nothing yet; I'm drawing a blank everywhere." Jo sighed. "Coffee?"

"I'd love one." She agreed with a smile, before starting to pour through the witness statements from the nightclub. Answering her ringing mobile distractedly and jamming it between her ear and her shoulder, she exhaled sharply as she knocked one of the folders piled on the desk onto the floor. "Hannah McKay… Hello? Hello?"

With an exasperated sigh she placed it back on her desk and shook her head, scooping up the brown file and returning to the report she was halfway through.

"What was that about?" Jo asked, holding out of the plastic mugs of coffee in her hands and spotting the annoyed frown on her friend's face.

"Another one of those silent calls. I swear it's the fifth one this week."

Jo frowned as well. "Do you get them often?"

"I guess so; a couple a week for as long as I can remember." Hannah replied with a shrug. "It's probably just a marketing thing; bloody annoying, though."

"Ring up your provider and get them blocked." The older woman advised, causing the red-head to grin at her.

"Alright, Mum."

"What?" Jo asked, slightly confused at the sarcastic response and cheeky grin she was being shot. "You said it was annoying."

"I know." Hannah agreed, smiling warmly. "Thanks, Jo."

After putting in a lot of overtime in the hope of finding something useful, both women were frustrated by their lack of progress. As they headed out of the station Jo suggested that they went for a drink, despite how late it was. Hannah accepted at once, wondering at just how eagerly she had agreed. They were making their way to the car park when Hannah's mobile started ringing in her pocket.

Apologetically she smiled at her colleague and answered. "Freya, you alright? Did you thank Sam and Abi for looking after you? Have you got the kids to bed OK?"

"Yeah we did and yeah Theo and Molly have been asleep for hours. Max has just gone up. But… you know you said Ellie wasn't allowed to go to the cinema…"

"Please don't tell me she went anyway." The red-head demanded furiously. "Right, I'm going to get her."

"She's gonna kill me, Hans." Freya complained.

"Don't worry, that's nothing to what I'm going to do to Ellie when I get my hands on her. Besides, I won't tell her you said." Hannah promised. Hanging up, she turned to Jo with a wince. "I'm really sorry, I'm gonna have to go."

"What's happened?"

"I expressly told my daughter she couldn't go to the cinema tonight and she's decided to completely ignore me."

Jo frowned. "She's just going to the cinema now? It's nearly half ten?"

Realisation dawned in Hannah's eyes. "She hasn't gone to the cinema… she's going clubbing. I'm going to kill her!"

"D'you want me to come with you?"

Hannah shook her head. "No, love… thanks, but no." She paused. "This is a big thing to ask, but would you mind going round to my house and… well… babysitting? Just 'til I get back. I wouldn't normally ask; Freya and Ellie can handle the little ones between them. But it's late and I don't like the thought of Freya being on her own. Especially seeing as I don't know how long I'll be."

"Course I will." Jo agreed at once. Once Hannah had given her the address, she walked to the red-head's car with her. "Be careful; there's a decapitator out there."

"Is decapitator even a word?" The younger woman asked with a grin that didn't reach her eyes. She opened the door and slid into the driving seat. "See you soon. Hopefully."


	8. Chapter 8

Plugging her mobile into the hands-free, Hannah phoned her sister to let her know that Jo was coming over. Letting the teenager's assurances that she'd be fine and didn't need anyone to look after them wash over her, the detective drove as close to the speed limit as possible without risking being pulled over by Uniform. As she reached Canley High Road, Hannah's eyes moved quickly over the crowds of people milling towards the club she'd visited with Jo twice in two days. Pulling up behind a taxi on the other side of the road, she leapt out of her car just in time to see her daughter slipping inside Sekushi.

Striding purposefully across the road, Hannah flashed her warrant card at the bouncer and strode past him, her eyes darting around the dark room. Making her way to the bar, she spotted the manager behind it and signalled that she wanted to talk to him. He nodded and walked around to join her, putting a hand on her elbow and guiding her to a quieter area.

"You decided to take me up on my offer of a drink then, DC McKay?" He flirted, putting a hand on her waist.

"I'm afraid not, Mr Scott." She snapped. "I've just seen my daughter walking through your door. My daughter is sixteen-years-old and I would like to know why the hell your bouncers let a sixteen-year-old in here."

He paled slightly. "I can assure you that this has never…"

"Never happened before? I'm sorry but I don't believe you." She narrowed her eyes. "I would advise you to hire bouncers who can actually do their jobs. But, in the meantime, I would appreciate help finding my daughter."

He nodded and hurried away. Rolling her eyes, Hannah moved through the crowd, pushing teenagers out of her way as she searched. She was disgusted to realise that the vast majority of them must have been under eighteen and therefore in the club illegally.

"Hannah?" Someone called, grabbing her arm as she pushed through the crowds.

Turning, she found herself looking at a man, possibly in his late thirties, with short dark hair. "Sorry… do I know you?"

"Paul, Paul Freeman?"

She shook her head. "Sorry?"

"You knew my sister, Alana?" When she still didn't look as though she knew what he was talking about, he scowled. "She was in your class at Canley Comp. She killed herself."

Suddenly she remembered who his sister was. At the same moment she spotted Ellie standing at the bar. Laying a hand on his arm she smiled. "Oh, yeah, I remember Alana… Listen, I've got to go. It was nice to see you."

Hurrying towards the bar, she immediately forgot about Paul Freeman and his sister. Ellie's eyes widened at the sight of her mother marching furiously towards her, letting out an indignant shriek as Hannah held her arm and pushed her in front of her out of the club. The teenager struggled to free herself from her mother's gasp, lashing out with the arm that wasn't held in a vice like grip. As her hand caught the older woman on the side of her head, Hannah grabbed her with both hands holding her upper arms tightly, glaring at her furiously.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing, Ellie?" She snapped.

"I'm having a life! Not that you'd know what that is, you bitch!"

"How much have you had to drink?" Hannah demanded unlocking the car and frogmarching the teenager round to the passenger side. She opened the door and tried to push her in.

"This is abduction!" Ellie almost screamed, fighting back and catching her mother with her fist again.

Wincing, Hannah raised a hand to her face. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm your mother and you are sixteen. Now get in the fucking car before I lose it."

"You've already lost it you stupid bi–"

Hannah had had enough of arguing in the street and put a hand on the top of her daughter's head, pushing her into the car and slamming the door closed behind her. Sensing that the moment she moved Ellie would try and get out, she locked the car while she walked round to the driver's side.

"Fucking hilarious." Ellie snapped as her mother got in and locked the doors again. "Are you keeping me prisoner now? Isn't imprisonment something you lock people up for?"

Ignoring her, Hannah started the engine, driving quickly in her desire to get as far away from the club as possible. The longer she ignored her daughter's ranting, the angrier Ellie got. As they turned the corner into their road, the teenager let out an annoyed snarl and smacked her mother on the arm.

Finally losing her patience, the detective parked the car on the gravel drive and turned furiously to her daughter. When she spoke, her voice was dangerously low. "Now you listen to me, Ellie McKay. I do not appreciate you lying to me and I definitely don't appreciate you ignoring my wishes without a second thought. I hardly ever say no unless I've got a good reason, you know that. I said no to you going to the cinema tonight and that should have been the end of it. But you weren't even planning on going to the cinema at all."

Rolling her eyes, the teenager glared at her. "How did you even know I was there? Did Freya tell you?"

"No." She lied quickly. "I was on a surveillance job outside and I saw you go in. I told you I had to go into work early this morning because a woman had been murdered. Well she's the second woman in two days who's been decapitated after leaving Sekushi."

Ellie's bolshie attitude vanished instantly and she blinked at Hannah anxiously. "Did I ruin your surveillance?"

"What? No! No, I don't care about that! What I care about is that you lied to me and you ignored me. I only told you about the murders because I don't want you going back there." The detective said more gently.

"I won't, I promise." Her daughter said, her eyes filling with tears. "I'm really sorry, Mum. I just… you dragged me out in front of my mates and this… guy I like." She saw the look on Hannah's face and smiled weakly. "I know you're going through a weird man-hating phase–"

"I wonder why? I mean, I've been so lucky in the past." Her mother replied sarcastically, raising an eyebrow. "Look… when we moved back here we said this would be a fresh start. I was hoping you and Freya would stop all that stupid stuff you got yourselves into."

"We have, Mum. Freya's turned into a right goody-goody. And I swear I've never been there before."

Nodding, the woman took a deep breath. "I believe you. Right, I think you should get to bed. Tomorrow is the first day of your month-long grounding, understand?"

"Yes." Her daughter agreed, slightly sulkily.

Hannah got out of the car and waited for Ellie to join her before moving towards the door. Unlocking it, she kissed the teenager on the side of her head and pushed her towards the stairs. Ellie smiled weakly, before heading up. Hannah heard a soft murmur of conversation from the girls' room, before the door closed and silence fell again.

"You found her?" Jo asked as the red-head dropped onto the sofa in exhaustion.

"She was at Sekushi."

"Is she alright?"

"She's still got a head, if that's what you mean." Hannah replied, not finding her own joke remotely amusing. "She must have been drinking fast because she's hammered." Glancing at her friend she smiled. "Wine?"

Jo grinned. "Ooh… go on then, twist my arm!"

Laughing, the red-head went into the kitchen, returning with a bottle of white wine and two glasses. They drank and chatted until Hannah suddenly realised that the bottle on the table in front of them was empty.

"I think you'd better stay over." She said, struggling to her feet and carrying the glasses and empty bottle to the kitchen and dumping them on the side.

"You really shouldn't say things like that to a lesbian." Jo teased her. "Stuart and Phil might get the wrong idea."

Hannah laughed. "Again? Sam told me what Stuart said to you."

She leant against the doorframe and looked at Jo. The brunette's eyelids were heavy and she blinked a couple of times, stifling a yawn. Hannah found herself smiling as she watched her, her gaze wandering over her whole body. With a jolt, she realised what she was doing and shook her head, slightly. With perfect timing to stop herself getting flustered, she heard a muffled cry from upstairs.

"That's my cue." She smiled. "Come on, I'll show you where the spare room is."

Leaving Jo in to get settled in, Hannah popped back to her own room and retrieved a pair of pyjamas, taking them to her friend. Instinctively, she reached forward and pulled the brunette into a quick hug, before turning and retreating to deal with her daughter and get herself into bed.


	9. Chapter 9

"Another woman's body has been found." The DCI informed the two detectives the moment they walked into CID the next morning. "The same MO as the others. I know you suspect a connection between Sekushi on the Canley High Road, so I've sent PCs Kapoor and Fletcher to the club to pick up CCTV."

"Thanks, Guv…" Jo muttered, glancing sideways at the red-head who had gone pale.

"What's happened to you, Hannah?" Jack asked, raising an eyebrow as he took in the black eye his young DC was sporting.

She shrugged, not willing to admit the bruises had been caused by her drunken sixteen-year-old daughter. "You know me, Guv… always getting into scrapes."

Evidently agreeing, Jack moved away to talk to Neil. Jo grabbed the younger woman by the arm and pulled her over to the water dispenser, lowering her voice. "Another murder?"

"Jo, I'll be on that CCTV." Hannah pointed out. "It'll show me having a go at Kevin Scott and then dragging Ellie out. What's that going to look like when Leela and Will spot it; especially with the black eye?"

"IF they notice and realise it's you, we'll think of something." The brunette assured her, squeezing her upper arm gently. "But for now we need to go and look at the crime scene and work out what's going on before someone else is killed."

Nodding, Hannah trailed slowly after her friend. About ten minutes later, they pulled up outside yet another nice house, this one belonging to a couple who were at their holiday home in Florida. With a jolt, the red-head was able to identify the woman as Kirsty Redmond, another girl she'd been at school with. As with Tina and Lauren, Kirsty had a Sekushi stamp on the back of her hand.

The Detective Constable crouched beside the body for a couple of minutes as Lorna ran her through the details of the crime scene. Jo turned away, unable to look at the headless corpse without feeling her stomach churning. She wondered how the younger woman could stand it; especially as she had known the victim, however long ago. When the Crime Scene Examiner had finished talking, Jo noticed the strange ashen colour of her colleague's skin and gently placed a hand underneath her elbow, encouraging her to stand.

"We've got to stop this, Jo." Hannah muttered, stalking out of the house and leaning against the wall, breathing deeply. She lit a cigarette and took a long drag before she spoke again. "We've got to stop it before I'm the only one from my class left."

"Well I was intending to drop the case and go shopping…" The brunette told her sarcastically, leaning beside her against the brick surface.

"Can't you be serious for two minutes?" Her friend snapped.

"Look… if you're so worried about what Will and Leela might discover on those tapes then we should get back to the office and take over." Jo suggested, ignoring the outburst. "But what's the worst that could happen? They see you at a club and are mistaken into believing that you have a social life."

"Haha…" Hannah muttered. "No, Jo. The worst that can happen is that they'll see me laying into Kevin Scott and then pretty much dragging Ellie out. If they get as far as the CCTV of the street they'll see a full-scale McKay argument ending with me shoving her into the car. How's that going to look?"

"Not great, maybe." Jo agreed with a small shrug. "But, Han, it's easily explainable, not to mention understandable; especially as you're both red-heads and you know what they say about them." Reaching out, she squeezed the woman's shoulder gently. "Come on, let's go and see what they've found."

More meekly than usual, Hannah nodded and allowed Jo to lead her to the pool car. She sat in the passenger seat, staring out of the window as her friend theorised out-loud about the case, trying to find connections and make sense of everything they had. Hannah didn't pay much attention, her mind wandering back to the night before.

"Jo… last night in Sekushi… there was a man."

"What man?" Jo demanded, turning a hard stare on her.

Hannah struggled to remember a name. "Paul… Paul Freeman. He said his sister, Alana, was in my class."

"Was she?"

"I assume so. I didn't remember her until he said she'd killed herself. But I don't understand how he knew who I was. He obviously recognised me; he called me Hannah."

"Maybe he's good with names and faces?" Jo suggested as they drew up in the car park. She waited for Hannah to walk around the front of the car before heading towards the station. "I'll run him through Crimint if it'll make you feel better?"

Her friend shook her head. "No. No, it's probably nothing."

They headed through the door in reception and up the stairs to CID. They passed Phil and Stuart on their way out, bickering as usual. Jo commented that they reminded her of six-year-olds, prompting Stuart to observe that the two women were usually worse. Hannah arched an eyebrow at him and was about to reply, when Jack appeared.

"Hannah, a word?" She asked motioning for her to follow.

With a glance over her shoulder at the other three, she nodded and did as she was told. "What's up, Guv?"

"This…" The DCI told her, pointing towards the television in the briefing room.

Hannah watched as the CCTV displayed her ranting at the club manager, before heading away. Jack fast-forwarded the footage until Hannah located Ellie at the bar and dragged her out. Without speaking, the man replaced the disk and the red-head was forced to watch the argument between herself and her daughter unfolding. As her car sped away out of shot, Jack turned the television off and rounded on the young woman, folding his arms.

"Well? What have you got to say? That is you at Sekushi last night?"

"Yes, Guv…" She agreed reluctantly.

"Who's the girl?"

Biting her lip, Hannah sat heavily on the edge of the long table in the briefing room and sighed. "That's my daughter, Ellie."

He raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Your daughter?"

"Yes, Guv. She's only sixteen. My sister phoned me as I was leaving the station last night and told me that Ellie had just gone to the cinema. It was almost half past ten, so I realised that she was probably lying about where she was going and put two and two together. I found her at Sekushi and, as you can see, she wasn't best pleased."

"And your altercation with Mr Scott?"

"I was warning him that he'd better start employing bouncers who understand the need for ID." Hannah told him bluntly. "Look, Guv… I know that we've linked Sekushi to the murders, but I didn't see anything last night that might be useful; I didn't even see Kirsty Redmond. I wish I had."

He nodded and moved to perch beside the red-headed DC. "I believe you, Hannah. Look, I've had an idea. All three victims were your classmates, yes? How do you feel about going undercover in the club and seeing whether you can spot anything?"

"Isn't it a bit risky, Guv? I mean, if it's someone working there they know I'm involved in the investigation?"

"Do you think it's an employee?" He asked.

She shook her head slowly. "We can't rule it out, but we've spoken to them all and my gut-feeling says that it's a punter."

Jack looked at her seriously. "So? Are you up for going in tonight? With full back-up, of course."

"Yeah, I am." She agreed with a determined nod. "Count me in."

Glancing at his watch quickly, he smiled at her. "Right, round up the others and we'll meet back here for a briefing in… ten minutes?"

"Guv." She nodded and left the room quickly, heading off in search of Jo.

* * *

_**A/N: Enjoying it? Fancy leaving a review? :)**_


	10. Chapter 10

"As you all know, all three victims were in the same class at Canley Comprehensive. Hannah, here, was also in that class. Tonight she's going undercover at Sekushi nightclub on the Canley High Road in the hopes that she will be able to gather more information on whoever is committing these murders and, failing that, ensure that no one else is killed."

"You are kidding?" Jo asked before she could stop herself.

"No, DC Masters, I am not." DCI Meadows replied, raising an eyebrow at her outburst. "DC McKay has already agreed to the operation and I am confident that she will be more than capable of keeping herself safe. You have experience of undercover work?"

"Yes, Guv, lots." She agreed with a nod.

"And your last operation was?"

"Properly? Three years ago… but it was a tough case. I spent four months gathering information that led to the conviction of a violent pimp in Manchester."

Sam and Jo exchanged a look, realising the significance of her words. Both were concerned that this was her first undercover operation since then. This had the potential for going very wrong and Hannah was more of a target for the killer than anyone else.

"Guv… we don't have any real information on the killer; nothing that would help Hannah recognise him. He could be anyone." Sam reasoned.

Clenching her jaw, Hannah glared at them. "I'm perfectly capable of handling myself, Guv."

"I agree, Hannah." Jack nodded. "Of course you won't be in there alone; you'll be going in with a group of officers pretending to be on a girls' night out. Other officers will be in there as well and I will personally be monitoring the situation from a car outside. Mr Scott has also agreed to allow us to place an officer or two behind the bar."

As he dismissed them to go back to their own work until later that evening, Jo and Sam followed Hannah as she headed out to the yard for a cigarette. Once they were out of everyone else's earshot, both women rounded on the red-head worriedly.

"Hannah… this is too dangerous." Jo told her gently.

"I'm not in any more danger than you two will be. You heard Jack; the club will be crawling with officers."

Sam shook her head. "You're the only one who'll fit the killer's pattern of victims."

"So? Maybe he will single me out, but with you lot around he's not going to get very far, is he?"

Realising that they wouldn't be able to change her mind, the women sighed in unison. After Ellie's performance the night before, Hannah was not taking any chances by leaving the kids on their own at home and muttered about finding a babysitter. With her daughter not yet having returned to Manchester after Christmas, Sam offered Abi's services to watch them and Hannah gratefully accepted. The rest of her shift passed slowly, with the detectives hunting through everything they knew about the case for the tiniest clue. Nothing stuck out and they were all starting to realise that the undercover operation was their best bet of finding the identity of the killer.

"All set?" Jack asked hours later, looking round the briefing room at his officers. They had all changed into suitable clothing and returned to the station ready to go undercover. "Now, our first priority is for Hannah to identify possible victims. I want you to stay in pairs and keep your target in your sights at all times. We need to ensure that no one else is killed."

They all nodded and started to move. Hannah walked down to the yard with Jo and Sam, listening to them discussing the operation in more detail. She knew they were concerned about her role in it, but she wished they wouldn't make it so obvious. All the way to the club, she stared out of the window anxiously, hoping that she would be able to recognise all the potential victims. The idea of someone dying tonight, especially in such a horrendous way, because she messed up was one that she didn't want to think about too much.

"Ready?" Jo muttered as they walked towards the club.

They caught up with Kezia, Emma and Nikki in the queue, spotting Leela, Beth, Will and Lewis a little way ahead of them and Stuart, Phil, Mickey and Smithy near the front. The women chatted slightly nervously, stamping their feet agitatedly and trying to fend off the cold as they waited to go in.

"I really wish I'd worn jeans now…" Hannah muttered, yanking at the bottom of her short skirt.

Freya and Ellie had found the idea that she was going clubbing, even if it was as part of a police operation, hilarious and had demanded that they be allowed to get her ready. That was how she had found herself heading to the station in a tight black mini-skirt, white vest and towering heels. The short skirt and heels made her legs look even longer than normal. Her auburn curls had been touched-up and pinned back at the sides, revealing large silver hoops in her ears. She had felt ridiculous, the phrase mutton dressed as lamb springing to her mind, but both teenagers had assured her that she looked fantastic.

"You look gorgeous." Sam told her with a smile, sensing that the younger woman wasn't just talking about the cold.

"Thanks…" She replied, slightly uncomfortably.

Moments later the bouncers looked them up and down, asking for ID. Behind her, her colleagues exclaimed at being asked to prove they were over twenty-one, but Hannah was slightly smug that the manager had obviously taken her warning seriously. Once inside, they set to work at once. Hannah identified several women she'd been to school with trying to avoid catching their eyes and having to make small talk with the drunken females, knowing that more would come out about her past than she wanted to. Once the officers had separated to keep an eye on their targets, Hannah found herself alone with Jo, who refused to leave her on her own.

"Guv? Anything suspicious yet?" Jo asked into the tiny microphone hooked into the neckline of her cardigan, her eyes darting around the room.

"Nothing. Everything alright your end?"

"Yeah." She agreed. Glancing up as Phil and Stuart headed towards them. Rolling her eyes at Hannah, she drew her attention to the men. "What d'you two want?"

Phil grinned. "You girls are getting far too much attention to be left unattended."

As if proving his point a young man, no more than twenty at the oldest, appeared behind Jo. He grasped her hips and attempted to make her dance with him. Receiving death stares from all three of the brunette's colleagues, he scuttled away hastily.

"Whatever…" Hannah muttered, unable to stop herself smirking, shaking her head at him. "I've warned you both before."

"We're just being gentlemanly." Stuart told her smoothly. "Two gorgeous women on their own; we couldn't just leave you."

"Give me strength…" Jo muttered, smacking him lightly on the arm. "Come on then, are you going to show us your moves?"

Watching the pair laughing as Stuart began shaking his hips in a totally overenthusiastic way, Hannah felt a strange twinge of annoyance and turned away. She wasn't sure why the sight had irritated her so much. Muttering to Phil that she was going to the bar to check in with Dan and Sally and warning him not to even think about following her, the red-head stalked away.

"Alright?" She called, leaning on the bar to shout in PC Casper's ear. "Everything OK here?"

"Yeah… nothing suspicious at all." He assured her with a shrug. Then he grinned cheekily. "Got a few numbers, though."

Laughing, Hannah did a quick scan of the club, instantly picking out the police officers in the crowd. She couldn't help pointing out several of them to Dan, laughing as she spotted Tony and Reg. She was about to head back to the trio on the dance floor, when someone tapped her lightly on the shoulder.

"Oh!" She said, turning and finding herself looking at the man who'd spoken to her the evening before. "Paul…"

"Can I get you a drink?" He offered.

Hannah glanced quickly at Dan and then nodded, reminding herself that she was supposed to be just another punter on a night out. "Umm… yeah, alright. Vodka coke, please."

After handing the alcohol to the red-head, along with a bottle of lager to the man paying for her drink, the male PC moved away to direct Sally's attention to the situation. Turning her back on them so she didn't have to watch them gossiping about her, Hannah smiled at Paul awkwardly.

"So…" Hannah mumbled as Paul led her over the seating area. She didn't know what to say to him, not really remembering him at all. She remembered that his sister, Alana, had committed suicide when they were sixteen, but Hannah hadn't really known her either. The girl had kept herself to herself most of the time. "How're you?"

"I'm great… how're you? What are you up to these days?"

The familiar tone he used to speak to her set her on edge slightly. She wasn't sure why, but something about him raised her suspicions. "Yeah, good… I'm a secretary, actually. I work for a solicitors' office. What about you?"

"I'm a builder."

"Right…"

They sat in silence for a moment or two, before Paul spoke. "D'you remember my sister, now?"

"Alana? Yeah… well… not really. We weren't exactly friends. I was sorry to hear she'd died, though."

"It's her fifteenth anniversary in a couple of days…" He muttered. "It's not fair that she died and the rest of you got to live."

Suddenly warning bells began to ring in Hannah's mind and she stood up quickly. "I should get back to…"

Before she could move, Paul was blocking her route back to the dance floor. Something cold and pointed jabbed into her side and she groaned, realising that it must be a knife of some kind. He pushed the blade more firmly into her, causing Hannah to hiss with pain, directing her away from the hordes of people and through a doorway.

"Where are we going?" Hannah demanded as he propelled her through a dimly lit corridor.

"Nowhere special." He snapped.

Scenarios and options whirled through her mind. Fighting against his grip, she attempted to sidestep away from him, but a hand around her throat caused her to still instantly. Her mind returned to the photographs of the headless bodies and she gulped.

"OK, OK… I'm not struggling." She promised as calmly as she could. "Just take it easy, yeah?"

"Take it easy?" He snapped. Then he laughed sardonically and propelled Hannah forward again.

They walked through the corridors until they reached a fire door. Paul pushed it open and urged Hannah through in front of him, the knife still digging into her side. Strangely, the most prominent thought in her mind was that Freya would go mad if her top was ruined by bloodstains. Outside, Hannah saw that they were in a yard behind the building. Wondering whether this was it and she was about to end up as another headless corpse, she couldn't help shaking with a mixture of cold and fear. Pulling her roughly, Paul headed towards an alleyway that ran along the side of the club.

As they walked round the side of the building, coming out onto the main road, Hannah glanced across to where she knew the DCI and Inspector Gold were parked. In the darkness she couldn't tell whether they'd spotted her, but sincerely hoped that they had. Out in the open, Paul slung an arm around her shoulders and held her close, the knife jabbing at her warningly.

"Paul… this is crazy." She told him gently. "Where are we going?"

"I told you; nowhere special."

"If it's nowhere special, why won't you tell me?"

He pushed the knife into her side lightly and Hannah gasped as the tip slid a little way into the flesh between her bottom rib and her hip. "Because you don't need to know."

Suddenly inspiration struck her and she turned to look at him. "Are we going to Alana's grave?"

"Well, you're certainly cleverer than the others." He laughed harshly, dragging her along the road.

* * *

_**A/N: Thanks for reading darlings! And thanks MissWritingStorysObsessed for your review! Anyone else fancy following suit? :D**_


	11. Chapter 11

"Hey, guys." Dan chuckled into his microphone as Hannah went to sit with the man who'd bought her a drink. "DC McKay's pulled."

"Don't be stupid, Dan." Phil's voice came through in his ear. "Hannah's far too professional to get distracted."

"He's right, Sarge… She's sitting with a guy and he bought her a drink." Sally agreed quickly.

Jo looked in confusion at Stuart and Phil, suddenly worried. She knew, even if the men didn't, that Hannah was definitely not looking for any attention of that sort and was unlikely to willingly put herself in that kind of position. Something was very wrong with the situation. The two Detective Sergeants returned the look she was sending them, before the three of them made their way quickly to the bar.

"Where are they?" Jo demanded quickly.

Sally pointed towards the sofas where the pair had been sitting moments before. Her face fell as she realised the area was completely empty. "They were right there."

"Shit!" Phil muttered, lifting his arm to talk into the microphone concealed in his cuff. "Guv, Hannah's vanished. According to Dan and Sally she was sitting with a man… description?"

"IC1, 6 foot, dark hair, possibly late thirties." Dan supplied quickly.

Phil repeated the description to the DCI quickly. "Anyone see them?"

Negatives came back from the officers positioned around the club, raising the tension between the woman's colleagues. Sam and Smithy appeared at the bar moments later, looking deeply concerned. After a hurried discussion, they split up to search for Hannah and Paul.

Jo and Smithy headed through the door beside the seated area, while Sam and Phil took the front entrance and Stuart went to round up officers to search the toilets and offices at the back of the building. As they made their way through the dark corridors, Jo saw a door at the end and broke into a run, Smithy just behind her.

They crashed through the fire escape, just as the DCI's voice came through their earpieces. "We've spotted Hannah and the suspect heading down an alley off Vincent Street. DC McKay doesn't look as though she's going with him of her own free will so there may be a weapon involved."

Sprinting round the side of the building, the pair skidded onto the main road, spotting Phil and Sam a little way ahead of them. The four police officers ran in the direction the DCI had indicated, reaching the end of the alleyway without seeing any sign of Hannah or the man.

"Where are they?" Sam demanded, as though one of her colleagues could give her an answer.

"This is a dead end… where could they have gone?" Jo replied, looking around for any sign of a gate.

Smithy waved them over, pointing something out. "Here, look…"

They examined the small gap in the fence carefully. The edges were jagged and a scrap of white material clung to the wood as though Hannah had crawled through and got stuck. Worryingly, the material was spotted with blood. Without a second thought, Phil and Smithy managed to kick the wooden panel down, allowing them to follow the trail.

"What is this place?" Phil muttered, looking around. The area was illuminated only by the moon and stars in the sky above them and a couple of lampposts dotted around.

"Canley Cemetery." Smithy replied warily, his hushed tone oddly deafening in the silence.

Raising his hand to his mouth, Phil alerted the DCI to their location, as they headed into the darkness. Spreading out, they walked slowly across the graveyard looking out for any sign of the red-head and her abductor. The urgency was increasing as each of them imagined Hannah ending up in the same state as the other three women.

It was Jo who spotted the pair first. She stopped abruptly, ducking behind a gravestone, not even thinking about alerting anyone else. Her mind was racing as she thought about how best to get her friend out of danger. Creeping closer and using the gravestones as cover she groaned as she realised that, rather than diffusing the situation, Hannah seemed to be winding the man up even more.

"Look… I really am sorry Alana hung herself, but you can't go round chopping women's heads off because of it." She was telling him bluntly.

Jo rolled her eyes, leaning carefully out from behind her cover to assess her next move. Hannah was kneeling on the ground in front of a gravestone with her hands bound behind her. The man was pacing in circles in the grass around her, obviously getting more and more agitated by the second.

"I lied to you earlier." Hannah continued casually. "I said I was a secretary. I'm not. I'm a Detective Constable with Sun Hill CID. My colleagues and I were on an undercover operation at Sekushi tonight and they'll know I've gone and be looking for me."

Hannah's words prompted Jo into remembering to alert their colleagues as to where she was. She tried to explain in agitated whispers, getting frustrated as she was unable to pinpoint anything significant nearby. Assuring her that they were on their way, Sam, Phil and Smithy began searching for the women's location.

Unable to watch any longer, Jo carefully headed even closer. She froze as Hannah climbed to her feet and turned to face her attacker boldly. As the red-head glared at the man, her eyes flickered down and she met Jo's. The brunette's eyes widened slightly as the younger woman's lips twitched upwards in a smirk. Sensing something, the man started to turn but Hannah recaptured his attention by stepping closer to him and speaking loudly, almost goading him. In response, he raised the knife, jabbing it wildly at her and forcing her backwards into a gravestone.

Throwing caution to the wind, Jo ran at him. She grabbed him from behind at exactly the same moment that Hannah freed herself of the ropes holding her arms behind her and gripped Paul's right hand which was wielding the weapon. She twisted his wrist until he dropped the blade.

"You took your time, Joanne." Hannah muttered, glancing at her friend and grinning as Paul Freeman was cautioned and taken away by uniformed officers.

"Yeah, well, you've got Dan Casper to thank… he was taking the mick telling us you'd pulled. That's when we realised something was wrong." Jo told her.

The red-head raised an eyebrow, smirking. "Oh, what, because the idea of me pulling is so hilarious?"

Jo laughed. "I think Stuart and Phil almost fainted with annoyance at the thought that someone else had succeeded where they both failed."

"Idiots…"

"You alright?" Sam demanded, joining the two women and reaching out to squeeze Hannah's arm through the jacket Phil had draped over her shoulders.

"Yeah, fine… I'm more concerned over what my sister's going to say about her top." She joked. Seeing the sceptical looks on her friends' faces, she smiled. "Honestly, I'm OK. It's just cuts and bruises. The stab wound, if you can even really call it that, isn't as bad as it looks. Although if Jo hadn't jumped on him like that I dunno how much longer I'd have lasted."

"Well done Jo. Right, seeing as Abigail is still at yours, I vote we go to and get a drink." Sam suggested, looking between the women, who both smiled.

"That's possibly the best thing you've said all day." Hannah told her with a sigh, following her out of the graveyard.


	12. Chapter 12

After her enforced two weeks leave were over, Hannah returned to Sun Hill and threw herself back into her work with renewed enthusiasm. Stuart jokily remarked that she should never be allowed leave, because she was more of a nightmare than usual when she came back. Rolling her eyes, Hannah had told him she missed him too, before heading out of the office to interview an assault suspect with Sam.

For the next month or so, the cases Hannah worked on were routine. She had a suspicion that her cases were being vetted before they were given to her. She had worked on a series of fraud, blackmail and car and identity theft cases with no hint of anything that could turn out to be dangerous. Frustrated, she made her case to Sam, who promised that nothing of the sort was happening and reminded her that cases were assigned depending on who was free.

After a week of almost constantly being cooped up in the station, the next case Hannah was given after her chat with Sam was a stabbing. She was forced into chasing the suspect through a park before single-handedly wrestling the knife out of his hands, while Stuart tried to cut him off in the pool car. Adrenaline still coursing through her, she grinned at her colleague from her position straddling the young man on the floor as he caught up with them.

"Alright, action woman?" DS Turner asked, walking into CID the morning after her adrenaline-fueled arrest. "What are you going to do today? Wrestle a lion? Scale Big Ben?"

"Nah… I think I'll stick to detective work instead." She replied with a grin, waving the case notes in front of her at him. "Armed robbery… much more my style."

Leaning on Hannah's desk, Jo fixed her with an amused smirk. "Come on, Rambo. We've got suspects to track down."

Nodding, the red-head grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair and headed out of CID with her friend. They drove to the crime scene and spent the next hour or so talking to Lorna about what she'd discovered and taking statements from the witnesses. It didn't seem a particularly expert job; the robbers had left a lot of forensic evidence behind, as well as dropping a mobile phone on their way out.

Returning to the station, Hannah was handed an envelope by the SRO on the main reception desk. It was quickly forgotten as she dumped it on top of the files on her desk and went to chat to Stuart and Kezia by the briefing room door. It wasn't until she was heading to lunch in the canteen that she remembered the envelope and doubled back to see what it was about.

Pulling out a couple of photographs, she sat down heavily on the chair and dropped the pictures onto her desk. All the colour drained from the woman's face as she stared at the images and she began to breathe more quickly as she broke into a panic.

"Han?" Phil called, peering through the doors as she suddenly disappeared from behind him. Seeing her in an obvious state, he quickly crossed the office and snatched up the pictures from her desk. "When did you get these?"

"Umm… Carol gave them to me when Jo and I got back from investigating the pawn brokers robbery this morning." She muttered, looking at him dazedly. "Phil… these pictures were taken this morning."

"Right… we're going to pick up your kids and bring them in. Don't worry; I'll square it with the Guv when we get back." He told her firmly.

Nodding, she followed him from the office and out into the yard. He got into the driver's seat of one of the pool cars and they sped towards Canley Comprehensive as it was closest to the station.

As they drove, Phil glanced at her curiously. "I know you've got three kids and you look after your brother and sister, but I don't really know much else."

"What d'you want to know?" She asked numbly.

"Anything… everything…" He said with a shrug. "Anything that might help us work out who sent you those pictures."

"Sharon and Pete, my parents, were eighteen when I was born. They were both junkies and incapable of looking after a child, but no one did anything, so I basically brought myself up. When I was fourteen I got pregnant and had Ellie. Freya was three months old when I had Ellie and Max was born three years later. I moved out when I was nineteen and took all three kids with me. Sharon and Pete didn't argue; they didn't want the hassle of kids. My ex left us before Theo was born and then… I had a one-night stand and Molly was born. That's all there is. Happy now?"

Phil sighed as they pulled up outside the school. Both detectives got out, walking quickly to the building and pulling open the doors. Hannah felt a sense of déjà vu as she walked along the corridor to the reception area, thinking back several years to when she'd been a student there.

"DS Hunter, DC McKay, Sun Hill CID." Phil said, flashing his warrant card at the secretary. "We need to see Freya, Ellie and Max McKay."

"You're the second people we've had asking about the McKays today…" The woman said, clicking at the computer screen.

"What d'you mean?" Hannah demanded.

"There was a man earlier asking about them."

The younger detective grabbed at the desk in front of her in a panic. "What man?"

"Can you give us a description?" Phil asked, more calmly, rubbing his colleague's back reassuringly.

"About forty, dark hair, skinny…" The receptionist told them. "Hang on, you're DC McKay?"

"Yeah… I'm Hannah McKay. Freya and Max are my brother and sister and Ellie's my daughter. Look… I really need to see them."

Nodding, the woman picked up the receiver of the phone on her desk. "I'll get someone to take you."

"I'll find out more about the guy." Phil told her in a low voice as a young woman, not much older than the children at the school, appeared and motioned for Hannah to follow her.

Running a hand distractedly through her hair, the Detective Constable nodded and moved quickly from the room, her high-heeled boots tapping urgently on the tile floor. Clutching her warrant card tightly, Hannah waited for the woman to open the classroom door, before heading inside. She swept the teenagers with her gaze quickly and spotted her brother.

"DC McKay… I need to speak to Max urgently." She demanded. The teacher blinked at her in confusion, before nodding.

"Han?" Max asked as soon as he was in the corridor and the door was closed. His sister checked him over quickly. "What's happened?"

"Are you alright? Have any strangers tried to speak to you?"

"No? What?"

Clamping her arm tightly round him, the detective nodded at the young woman and followed her to the classroom where Freya and Ellie were both in a French lesson. After pulling them out as well, Hannah led them back to the reception area where Phil was still trying to find out information from the secretary. He turned to her, just as the woman's mobile rang and she turned away to answer it.

"Hannah McKay." Her face fell as she listened to the panicky voice on the other end. "Jasmine… calm down. I don't understand what you're… what? OK, stay there and I'll come as soon as possible. Alright…"

"Phil… I need to get over to my child-minder's… a man's just turned up claiming I've asked him to pick Molly up. Can you take these three back to the station while I go and get her and Theo?"

He nodded. "Of course. D'you want to take the car? I'll call the station for a lift."

Catching the keys that Phil threw towards her, Hannah smiled at the teenagers before racing out of the school. She sped towards Jasmine's house, leaping out of the car and rushing up the path, knocking on the door, before calling to the young woman through the letter box. In an instant the door opened and Hannah slipped inside. She took Molly from Jasmine's arms and held her tightly.

After a couple of minutes spent reassuring the child-minder that she didn't blame her at all and was grateful to her for letting her know, she left the house and went to Canley Primary to pick up her son. The staff hadn't noticed anyone unusual hanging around and, to her immense relief, no one had attempted to get at Theo.


	13. Chapter 13

Back at the station, she was informed that Phil had taken the three teenagers to the Canteen and left them in Smithy's care. Balancing Molly on her hip and holding Theo tightly by the hand, she popped upstairs to CID in search of the Detective Sergeant. As soon as she walked through the double doors, her son pulled his hand out of her grip and headed straight for the blonde DI who was chatting tensely with Stuart.

"Theo!" Hannah shouted as the little boy barrelled into her superior without any warning. "Sorry, Guv."

"It's alright; no harm done." Sam assured her with a smile, ruffling Theo's hair and putting an arm round his shoulders. "Hello, darling, what are you doing here?"

"Hello, Auntie Sam!" He almost shouted in his over-excitement. "Mummy picked me up early and said we could come into her work. Can you put me in a cell?"

His mother winced. "I didn't really have a choice, Sam, I–"

"It's fine, Hannah." The DI assured her, taking Theo by the hand and leading him towards the doors. "Phil told us about the photos."

"I don't know what to do." She admitted as the two women made their way slowly down the stairs to the canteen. "The Secretary at Canley Comp gave us a description of a man who'd been asking about the kids and Jasmine, my child-minder, ID'd what sounds like the same guy at her house. But the description could apply to most of the men in Sun Hill."

"I hate to say it, darling, but there's not much you can do at the moment… there's no leads and no evidence."

Hannah sighed, pushing open the canteen doors. "I know." She smiled at the teenagers as they saw her. "Can I leave them in here until I finish my shift? I promise they won't make trouble."

"It's fine." Sam assured her. "Phil's already cleared it with the DCI for you."

With a grateful smile, Hannah watched the DI wave at the teenagers, before gently removing Theo's hand from hers and heading out of the canteen. Holding her son's wrist firmly so he couldn't make any more breaks for freedom, she approached the table where Smithy was sitting with Freya, Ellie and Max.

"Smithy? I hope they're behaving themselves?"

He turned and grinned up at her. "Good as gold."

"Fabulous. Theo, this is Sergeant Smith. Don't ask too many questions." She ordered, smirking at the expression on the Sergeant's face. Turning, she saw Beth smiling at her daughter and grinned. Moving to stand in front of her, she handed Molly to the young PC. "Thanks, Beth."

Laughing softly at the shock on the girl's face, Hannah headed out of the canteen and up the stairs to CID. She tried to work through her reports and get the paperwork on the armed robbery done, but her mind was a million miles away.

"Are you listening?" Jo asked gently as the red-head failed to answer her questions.

"I need to get the kids home..." Hannah muttered distractedly. "If I take the girls first and then come back for Theo and Max that'll work."

"Don't be silly." Her colleague said with a smile. "Let me help. I'll follow you and bring the girls."

Hannah shook her head, slightly embarrassed that she needed help. "Oh, no. I couldn't ask you to do that. You want to get home."

"What are friends for? Besides, all I've got to get home for is a meal for one and a bottle of wine."

"If you're sure you don't mind, that would be a huge help." The younger woman admitted, touched that Jo was willing to put herself out to help her. "And I'm sure we can offer you dinner to say thank you."

Seeing the way Hannah's eyes were darting around the office nervously and how tense she obviously was, Jo reached out and squeezed her arm. "You're really scared, aren't you?"

"I'm terrified." She sighed, to her friend's surprise. Jo hadn't thought that she would admit it so easily. "Not for my sake, but for the kids… I feel like borrowing a gun from the property store."

"Tell you what, I'll go via my house and pick up some things so I can stay over." Seeing that Hannah was about to argue, she smiled. "I want to, really. It'll put my mind at rest."

"Thank you."

"Come on, let's go." Jo said, grabbing her jacket and throwing Hannah hers.

They made their way through the double doors from CID and towards the canteen. Freya and Ellie were giggling flirtatiously at a slightly bemused looking Smithy, who was also being bombarded with questions from Theo. Along the table Beth was playing with Molly, who was giggling happily at the young PC, while Max unsubtly stared at her.

"Come on, you lot." Hannah called breezily stalking towards the trestle table they were occupying. She smiled easily, not letting them see how worried she was. "Girls, leave Smithy alone. And Max put your eyes back in, please."

"Why, you jealous Hans?" Freya asked with a cheeky grin.

"Luckily for Smithy, he's not my type. I wouldn't want to inflict you lot on a nice guy like him." The woman said with a grin. "Now move, come on."

"Yeah, you go for losers and creeps, don't you, Mum?" Ellie said, grabbing her jacket and bag.

"Enough, Ellie." Jo said quietly, sensing her friend tense beside her. To Hannah's surprise, her daughter closed her mouth instantly without a single complaint.

Scooping Molly out of Beth's arms with a warm smile at the young woman, Hannah expertly manoeuvred the two-year-old into her coat. "Right, Freya and Els you're going in Jo's car. Behave yourselves or we'll be having words. Boys, with me."

"Why did you pull us out of school, Mum?" Ellie asked as the group made their way through the corridors towards the reception area.

"I told you, I was worried about your safety."

"But why?"

Stopping, Hannah turned to face her daughter. "I'll explain later, alright. Let's just get home and have something to eat. When Theo and Molly are in bed I'll tell you."

"Promise?" The teenager asked and, for the first time, Jo saw underneath the act Ellie had been putting on; she was scared by her mother's unusual behaviour.

"Do I ever lie to you?" Her mother inquired softly. When Ellie shook her head, Hannah planted a kiss on her forehead, before repeating the action with her sister and pushing them towards Jo. "Behave." They nodded and moved to wait by the door, as Hannah leant closer to her friend so that she could speak in a low voice. "Phone me when you're outside the house."

"Will do."


	14. Chapter 14

Hannah waited until Jo and the girls were pulling out of the station before strapping Molly securely into her baby seat and checking Theo was safely in his. Getting into the driver's seat beside her brother, she locked the doors, not willing to take any chances.

"You never lock the doors, Hans." Max pointed out, furrowing his eyebrows. "What's going on?"

"Like I told Ellie, I'll talk to you about it later." His older sister told him seriously, drawing to a halt at the traffic lights.

She parked her work car as close to the seven-seater on the drive as she could, leaving just enough room for Jo's car beside it. Throwing the keys to Max, Hannah got Theo to wait until the front door was unlocked before he got out of the car. She freed Molly from the baby seat, balancing her on her hip and catching the keys that her brother tossed back in her direction so that she could lock the car. As soon as they were inside, she slid the safety chain across and switched on as many lights as possible.

To the children's confusion, she told them to put the telly on and wait in the living room while she checked upstairs, totally unnerved by the events of the day. Hannah had never been paranoid before and neither had she ever been scared of anything. She'd chased down knife-wielding suspects, stood up to gunmen and even been pinned to a wall with a needle at her neck, but the idea of someone being a danger to her family was something new.

"Boys, I need you to go and get all the things off the spare bed and put them in my room." Hannah requested reappearing in the living room once she was satisfied there was no one in the house.

"Why?" Theo demanded, looking up from his train set which, in less than ten minutes, seemed to have spread across the entire living room floor.

"Because Auntie Jo is going to stay here tonight, so she needs to actually be able to get into the bed." She replied, moving through the French doors into the kitchen and opening the fridge.

"Can I sleep in Maxy's room?" The little boy asked, tugging on his mother's sleeve and blinking up at her with big blue eyes.

With a sigh, Hannah shook her head. "No, baby, it's a school night and you need your sleep. Anyway, both of you need to go and change out of your uniforms before you do what I've asked."

Two exaggerated sighs met her ears, followed by two sets of footsteps heading up the staircase. Checking that Molly was suitably occupied by a combination of children's television and a pile of toys, Hannah started on dinner. By the time her phone rang, signalling that Jo and the girls were outside, spaghetti was bubbling in one saucepan and bolognaise was simmering gently in another.

"Girls, can you change the sheets on the spare bed, please." Hannah asked as she let them in. "Dinner won't be long."

"You don't need to change the sheets." Jo assured her friend as the teenagers disappeared upstairs and the women headed into the living room.

Hannah laughed. "Trust me, it's safer… last time I changed the sheets I found half a jammie dodger, hair gel and some play dough. I still don't know who did it, although my money is definitely on Theo. Anyway, welcome back to the madhouse. Make yourself at home and I'll go and open this." She said, taking the bottle of white wine Jo was offering her. Before she made it to the kitchen, a small, blonde hurricane ran straight into her. Grasping Theo's arms gently, she smiled. "Go and get your reading book and you can read to me while I finish making dinner. Mrs Sanderson will tell me off if I forget again."

"Can I read to Auntie Jo?"

"I'm starting to feel left out here, gorgeous!" She laughed softly. "Well you'll have to ask if she minds."

Nodding, he rushed away to fetch his book bag, before almost leaping on top of the older detective and starting to chatter nineteen-to-the-dozen before she could even open her mouth. Smiling, Hannah handed a slightly shell-shocked Jo a glass of wine and turned her attention to the cooker, putting the finishing touches to the meal.

Running on autopilot, the young woman set the table and dished out the meals, barely noticing the extra plate. She put the bottle of wine and a jug of orange squash in the centre of the table and a cup of squash on the tray of Molly's highchair.

"Food!" She shouted, leaning through the kitchen door into the hallway. "Come and get it!"

At once there was a stampede; Freya, Ellie and Max racing down the stairs and Theo barging past her from the living room. Hannah smiled at Jo as she scooped Molly up and settled her in the highchair.

"Can we have wine, Hans?" Freya asked, glancing hopefully at her sister.

"You and Ellie can have one glass." The woman agreed, passing her the bottle once she'd topped up hers and Jo's glasses.

"Can I?" Max asked.

"You are kidding?" Hannah laughed. "Apart from the fact you don't like wine, you're only thirteen, so no; orange squash for you, mate."

"I'm the man of the house and I'm not even allowed wine." He sighed, half-sulkily.

"Man of the house?" Freya laughed, almost spitting bolognaise across the table at her sister.

"You?" Ellie asked, giggling too.

"You couldn't protect us from a moth."

"Leave off him, you two." Hannah commanded calmly, taking a sip from her glass and shooting Max a quick wink. "He's definitely the man of the house. Maxy and Theo are the only men we need around here."

"My Dad's alright." Ellie reminded her, almost defensively.

Hannah nodded, conceding her daughter's point. "Yeah, Jake's OK… he can put flat pack furniture together, anyway."

"When he's not banged up." Freya joked, earning herself a sharp jab in the ribs from her niece.

Jo looked curiously at her friend, but the red-head was clearly not intending to explain the comment. Instead she winked at the girls. "But we don't need any more men in this house."

"No more rubbish boyfriends." Max agreed with a nod.

"I bet you don't even remember Carl." Freya teased, nudging her brother in the ribs. "He was Han's last boyfriend and you were only Theo's age when he walked out on her."

"That's enough." The woman almost snapped, her good mood evaporating immediately. She stabbed viciously at the food in front of her.

"Anyway, we don't need a man of the house, Mum." The younger red-head said with a smirk. "Forget GI Jane, we've got GI Hannah."

Freya nodded. "Yeah, Hans, you're like action woman." She turned to Jo. "Has she told you about the stuff she gets up to? There was this one time when she jumped on the back of this guy who was threatening another copper with a knife. He stabbed her in the leg."

"Freya!" Hannah snapped, shaking her head sharply and glancing at her younger children. "I said, enough. Besides, I bet Jo's got plenty of stories of her own."

At her words, Max's eyes lit up. "Do you, Jo?"

"Enough." The woman repeated. The air of finality in her voice was all that was needed to stop the conversation in its tracks. Looking up from her dinner and seeing the surprise on the three teenagers' faces, she sighed. "I'm sorry. I've just had a tough day and I don't want to talk about work, alright?"

There was silence for a couple of moments, which was soon broken by Theo launching into a story about something that had happened in school that morning. As the teenagers laughed at what the little boy was telling them, Hannah sighed inwardly at the realisation that she would almost definitely be called over for a chat with his class teacher when she dropped him off at school the next morning. Freya and Ellie glanced at Hannah, before looking at each other and giggling. They knew that Mrs Sanderson was one of the only people that scared the older woman.

"Right… Freya, Ellie, Max go and do your homework and then we'll shove a movie on. Theo you've got half an hour before bedtime." Hannah organised her family as she started clearing the table. As Jo started to help, the younger woman smiled. "Don't be silly, you're a guest. Could you keep an eye on Molly for ten minutes though, before I get her ready for bed?"

* * *

_**A/N: Thank you guys for reading this! And special thanks to MissWritingStorysObsessed and A for Antechinus for your reviews :D**_

_**Two chapters in 2 days? I know! The reason is that I'm borrowing a social life for a couple of days... don't worry, it'll be returned to its rightful owner by Wednesday and I'll be back in hermit mode with 2 gerbils and 3 goldfish for company once more! :P**_

**_Hope you enjoy this chapter! :)_**

**_B x_**


	15. Chapter 15

Jo did one better than just keeping an eye on Molly, taking the little girl upstairs and putting her in her pyjamas ready. By the time Hannah appeared in the doorway Molly was settled in her cot blinking up at the women smiling down at her. Blowing her daughter a kiss, Hannah pulled the door closed and headed down the stairs. In the living room, she handed her friend another glass of wine and curled her legs underneath her on the sofa. Then she wriggled uncomfortably, pulling a plastic dinosaur out from between the cushions and threw it into the toy box in front of the television. She moved a pile of papers on the coffee table and sighed.

The older woman looked around the living room with a smile. As Hannah slipped off the sofa, kneeling on the floor and gathering up armfuls of toys that had been discarded by her children, Jo watched her. The room was so intrinsically Hannah; from the large, bright flowers on the wallpaper decorating the wall behind the fireplace to the large collection of mismatched photo frames covering almost every available surface to the bookcase in the corner which was crammed with the most bizarre collection of books Jo thought she had ever seen. She supposed that the contents of the bookcase was the natural result of a house habituated by so many different characters. Picture books were crammed in next to the autobiographies of various actors and reality stars and factual books about cars and space and animals. In between all of those were battered books that had obviously been read by Hannah and passed on to the children as they grew up.

Hannah picked up a couple of the papers on the coffee table and stared at them with sudden realisation. "Chuck us that pen, would you? The girls' school trip forms need to go back tomorrow…" As her friend snapped out of her daydream and hunted through the pile of things in the bowl in front of her, finally locating a biro, Hannah winced. "Sorry about the mess."

"You've got five kids in this house and you're an overworked, underpaid detective." Jo reminded her with a smile. "I'd be worried if it wasn't a bit messy." Smiling too, Hannah shook her head, but didn't say anything. "You're an enigma, d'you know that?"

"Let me guess you still can't get your head round the fact that I'm not a maverick, reckless, thoughtless, selfish, general pain in the arse all the time?"

"Well… maybe a little bit." The older woman agreed with a grin, sipping at her wine.

"Who's a pain in the arse?" Theo asked, poking his head around the living room door.

The women both started to laugh, each choking on their wine in the process. "Theo, baby, go and put your pyjamas on, please."

"But…"

"Now, Theo."

With a final pout of annoyance, the little boy headed off upstairs to do as he was told. Hannah shook her head slightly as she listened to the sounds from above. Max seemed to be telling Theo not to climb all over him.

"They're lovely kids."

"With me as their guardian, what else would you expect?"

Jo laughed. "I don't know… but seeing as you've made it to DC by thirty–"

"Twenty-eight, actually." Hannah couldn't resist correcting her with a smirk.

Rolling her eyes, Jo continued. "You've obviously worked incredibly hard to get where you are and yet you've still managed to raise five great kids."

"You wouldn't be saying that if…" She shook her head. "Thanks for being here, by the way."

"You might drive me crazy, but that doesn't mean I don't like you." Jo informed her with a wry smile.

They looked at each other for a couple of moments and then the door flew open, banging off the wall and revealing a very annoyed Max. He almost shouted something about Theo messing up his things and disappeared. With a sigh, Hannah indicated for Jo to stay where she was and headed off upstairs. After a couple of minutes the commotion and raised voices from upstairs stopped. A door closed and Jo heard footsteps on the stairs.

"Han will be down in a minute. She's just reading Theo a story." Max said, heading into the kitchen. "D'you want anything to eat or drink?"

"No thanks, sweetheart."

Jo watched the thirteen-year-old through the French doors thoughtfully as he hunted in the fridge for something to eat. The DC Hannah McKay she knew didn't read bedtime stories or sign school trip forms or apologise for her house being a mess; she made sarcastic comments and was incredibly tactless and sometimes stepped over the line. But, as Jo thought about it, she realised that it was all an act. The signs had been there all along, but until now she hadn't known what she was looking for. Hannah's relentless attempts to make things better for the children they'd dealt with and her desire to take down the drugs gangs they'd encountered were obviously linked to her own life. Jo felt guilty that she'd just seen Hannah as a brash, self-centred young woman when, clearly, the opposite was true.

"Sorry about that, darl…" The woman apologised, dropping onto the sofa and draining the wine from her glass. "Minor emergency dealt with." Leaning forwards, Hannah called to her brother in the kitchen. "Maxy… bring the bottle from the fridge."

"Bloody waster…" The boy muttered with a grin, appearing and holding the bottle out to her.

"Oi… cheeky little sod." Hannah grinned. "Have you done all your homework?"

He nodded and sighed exasperatedly. "Yes…"

"Fabulous. Go and tell the girls you're in control of the telly tonight, then."

When he returned, with Freya and Ellie not far behind him, they settled down to watch _The Italian Job_, Max's current favourite film. As the credits rolled, Ellie remembered her mother's promise to explain her reasons for pulling them out of school and confining them to the police station canteen all afternoon. Flirting with Sergeant Smith had been fun, especially seeing him looking uncomfortable at the thought of what her mother might do to him if she thought he was enjoying it. But there was something more sinister going on and Ellie wanted to know what it was.

"Mum? Are you ready to talk yet?"

Nodding, she signalled for the teenagers to join her on the sofa. Jo made to stand up, but Hannah reached out and grabbed her hand, shaking her head and silently begging her to stay.

"Hans?" Freya looked between the two women in concern. "What's going on?"

"D'you remember just before Molly was born and I had to go undercover?" She started, looking seriously at the three teenagers.

Max nodded. "I remember… we had to stay with your friend Yvette for ages. Theo was always crying 'cos he didn't understand where you were."

"I know…" His sister agreed guiltily. "What exactly do you remember about that, though? Can you remember why I had to go?"

Freya narrowed her eyes. "You were pretending to be a hooker, weren't you?"

Glancing sideways at Jo, whose eyebrows had shot up at the teenager's words, Hannah sighed. "Not exactly, Freya. I was gathering evidence on a violent man who was exploiting young women."

"But it went wrong, didn't it?" Ellie asked.

"It did. The guy in charge of the operation realised something wasn't right when the DS handling me dropped me in it. You saw the photos I was sent, didn't you? The photos of us leaving the house and going to school or shopping?"

"You freaked out big time." Her daughter nodded. "It was pretty scary."

"Well it's happened again." Hannah said seriously, digging in her bag and pulling out the envelope she'd received that morning. "These got sent to work earlier."

"And then there was that man at school…" Freya remembered slowly. "Who is it?"

Hannah sighed. "I don't know… it can't be the same guy as last time because he's doing thirty years. But I promise you I will sort this, so you don't have to worry."

"I'm not worried, because I know you'll sort it like you sort everything." Ellie told her confidently, standing up and pressing a kiss to her mother's cheek. "I'm going to bed. Night, Mum… Jo."

As she headed out of the living room, Freya and Max copied her actions, leaving the two detectives alone. For a couple of moments they sat in silence. Then Hannah sighed and pushed the photos back into the envelope out of sight. She headed into the kitchen and returned with a full bottle of wine, filling up their glasses and taking a long gulp.

"D'you always tell them everything?" Jo asked after a while, remembering Freya's hooker comment.

"Most things… there's no point hiding things from them, unless it would do more harm than good. They don't know I had Molly because I was raped, for instance. I'd rather they never knew that."

"Is it a good idea? Surely telling them that someone's been… spying… on them will just freak them out?"

"It'll put them on their guard." Hannah told her confidently. "They're sensible kids and they trust me to take care of them. I have to work this out."

"I'll help."

"Thanks." The younger woman said gratefully, shooting her a warm smile. "The kids really like you, you know?"

"How can you tell?"

"Molly didn't scream at you, Theo read to you, Max told me you were 'well cool' and Ellie and Freya haven't bitched about you at all. In fact, Ellie said she really likes your boots. All that combined means you're a hit."

"I'm honoured."

"You should be." Hannah said with a grin.

Suddenly she found herself staring at Jo; her gaze alternating between memorising the unusual colours of her eyes and tracing the outline of her lips. Her head was reeling and her breathing was getting shallower. Hannah looked at her hands, trying to get herself under control. When she looked back at the other woman's face, she realised that Jo's pupils were dilated and her lips were slightly parted.

Panicking at the unfamiliar feelings spreading through her, Hannah stood up quickly. "I think I'm going to head to bed. It's been a weird day. Hopefully tomorrow will give us some answers. D'you remember where the spare room is?"

"Yeah." Jo nodded, waiting patiently as Hannah tidied the glasses and wine bottles away and turned off the lights. "Night, Hannah."

"Night, Jo." The younger woman replied softly, waiting until the door of the spare bedroom had closed. Confused, she crossed the hall and went into her own bedroom, trying to make sense of what was going on in her head.

* * *

_**A/N: I'm back! I know I said I was borrowing a social life until Wednesday, but it got a little wild and I had to return it to its rightful owner early (mainly thanks to a dentist's appointment and the fact I have to babysit tomorrow). I'm clearly too old (at twenty-one) for a social life any more...**_

_**Thanks to you all for reading and thanks to **_**A for Antechinus**_** for the review :D**_


	16. Chapter 16

The next morning when her alarm went off, Hannah had barely slept. She felt as though she had only just closed her eyes when the sound of the radio cut through her dream and she rolled over and turned it off. Stretching and yawning broadly, she swung her legs out from the warmth of the duvet and moved across to Molly's cot. The toddler was sitting up, cheerfully banging her doll against the bars.

"Morning, beautiful." Hannah muttered, balancing her daughter on her hip and moving to the bedroom door.

She followed the usual pattern of weekday mornings in the McKay house; pulling the duvets off Freya and Ellie's beds, before heading to Max's bedroom and throwing open the curtains. She could already hear Theo in his bedroom, so she just poked her head around the bedroom door and reminded him to get dressed. All three teenagers complained bitterly at the wakeup calls, but knew better than to argue with the woman in the morning. Even a lifetime of early mornings hadn't made her a morning person.

Her son was the first to join her in the kitchen, bumping into the table as he attempted to manoeuvre with his jumper stuck over his face. Hannah sighed and freed him, simultaneously putting a slice of toast cut into four in front of her daughter. When the toaster popped again, Max appeared and grabbed it before anyone else had the chance.

"Mum? Have you seen my Engli–" Ellie started, whirling into the kitchen and looking wildly around.

"Coffee table under the gas bill." Her mother replied without thinking, juggling several plates of toast. "Yours and Freya's school trip letters are there too and there should be two twenties in my purse."

"Where's–"

"In my bag on the counter." She replaced the milk in the fridge and turned to Freya. "Freya… watch Theo pouring his coco pops, please. I don't have time to clear up today."

"Where are you going with that?" The teenager asked, pointing at the coffee mug in her sister's hand.

Hannah was in the hall as she answered. "I'm taking it up to Jo, if that's alright with you? I thought she should be spared the morning circus."

She knocked softly on the door, unsure whether her friend was awake or not – although how she would have managed to sleep through the amount of noise generated by the family would have been a mystery. Hearing a muffled reply, Hannah pushed open the door and went inside. Jo was dressed and applying eye-liner when the younger women entered. Hannah smiled and put the mug of coffee down on the bedside cabinet.

"Morning… I hope they didn't wake you. We're not really morning people in this house."

Jo looked her up and down slowly, taking in the oversized tracksuit bottoms and tight vest top her friend was wearing and her messily scraped back hair. Hannah shivered unconsciously as she felt the woman's eyes trailing over her body. "I can see that. Anything I can do to help?"

"No, no." She replied shaking her head. "I can't ask you to do any more than you already have."

"Hannah, I'm your friend. If I didn't want to help you I wouldn't have offered. You have to stop trying to do everything on your own."

There was a long pause while the younger woman struggled internally. She had never relied on anyone else to help her with anything before and wasn't sure that she wanted to start now. Relying on people left the potential for being let down and, especially where the kids were concerned, that wasn't an option. But, as she slowly became aware that she was staring at her friend, she realised that she actually wanted Jo to help her. She wanted Jo to be someone she could rely on and she was sure the woman wouldn't let her down.

"Alright, if you're sure." Seeing the raised eyebrow aimed in her direction she smiled weakly. "Could you possibly take Theo to school and Molly to the child-minder's for me. I'm more concerned about the other three at the moment. Theo and Molly are constantly supervised, but the others aren't. I want to speak to the school and make sure they haven't got their eyes closed."

"Course I will. I'll have a word with the teacher as well; make sure someone's got eyeball on Theo all the time."

"Right, I'd better go and get ready for work." Hannah grinned at Jo's unconscious use of police-speak. "I don't reckon the Guv would be too impressed if I pitch up in my PJs."

Her friend chuckled and headed downstairs with her mug of coffee. By the time the younger woman was showered, dressed and looking far more like the DC McKay that Jo was used to, everyone was ready to go. Hannah was shocked at how unlike a war zone her kitchen looked. Usually she was forced into a last minute dash around the room, loading the dishwasher and making sure it was vaguely presentable so that she didn't have to deal with it when she got home from work. But this morning everything was cleared and tidy and all five children were ready and waiting for her.

"Are you Mary bloody Poppins in disguise or something?" Hannah hissed at Jo as she passed, causing the older woman to chuckle. "You can stay over anytime you like." Realising that her words could be easily misconstrued, she blushed and turned to her family quickly, throwing her car keys to the eldest of the five. "Right, you three go and get in my car. I'm gonna have a quick word with Theo and then I'll be out."

"These are the keys to the Lexus?" Freya questioned her sister, glancing at the keys in her hand.

"Jo's going to take the kids for me because I want to speak to your headmaster."

"You're not gonna be all embarrassing are you, Mum?" Ellie groaned. "Not like when you had a go at my maths teacher at parents' evening?"

A faint smile tugged at Hannah's lips as she remembered the incident. "I promise you that speaking to Mr Hill will give me absolutely no pleasure, babe." She ushered Theo into the living room and sat on the sofa, pulling him onto her lap. "Listen to me, baby… I want you to be really good today, alright? Auntie Jo's going to take you to school. I want you to make sure you stay where the teacher can see you at playtime and where the dinner ladies can see you at lunchtime. If anyone you don't know tries to talk to you, you go and tell someone, alright?"

"Why?"

"Because I said so, you nutter! Alright?"

"Alright."

"And stay next to Mrs Sanderson while you're waiting for someone to come and pick you up later." She pulled him into a tight hug, placing kisses all over his face and making him giggle. "Right, you better be good for Auntie Jo. Don't tell her I told you, but she's actually really scary and you don't want her to tell you off. She told me off once and I was shaking like a jelly for days."

Theo laughed. "Don't be silly, Mummy! Auntie Jo isn't scary!"

"No, she's not really." Hannah agreed. "But you still don't want her to tell you off, do you?" He shook his head and wriggled off her lap, running into the hall.

Agreeing to meet at the station, the detectives got into their respective cars and headed off in different directions. When Hannah pulled up outside Canley Comprehensive, she locked the car and followed the teenagers towards the reception area. They hesitated in the foyer and she shot them a reassuring smile.

"I can handle it from here… I know the way." She assured them with a small smirk. "I know this is annoying, but please stay at school during break and lunch. You know I wouldn't ask you to if I didn't think it was important."

"Alright." They agreed as one, nodding and smiling at her.

Hannah returned their smiles relieved that, even with their totally unconventional upbringing, they were so sensible and well-adjusted. "I want you to stay inside the gates after school until someone comes to pick you up. I'll try and get here, but if I can't I'll send someone you know. If anyone you don't recognise says I've sent them do not get in their car."

"Can you send Smithy?" Ellie asked eagerly.

Freya nudged her. "Or Phil?"

"Or Beth?" Max suggested.

The woman rolled her eyes. "Teenagers… I think it'll either be me, Jo or Sam. That would be safer for all concerned."

"Spoil sport." Ellie muttered with a grin. "We better go."

"Have a good day." Her mother wished them, before turning and heading towards the reception desk.

"Ah, DC McKay!" The receptionist said with a broad grin. "Back so soon?"

"I was wondering whether I could have a quick word with Mr Hill?"

With a nod, the blonde bustled off to call through and see whether the headmaster was free. Returning minutes later, she signalled for the detective to follow her. She ushered Hannah along corridors and into the office with a greater amount of formality than the young woman had though necessary. Hannah looked around with an increasing sense of déjà vu. It felt like a lifetime since she'd left Canley Comprehensive, but nothing about the office seemed to have changed in that time.

"Ahhh… Hannah McKay, this is a nice surprise." The tall, well-built man said in a booming voice, striding across the floor towards her with his hand out. "When was it you left us? Fourteen years ago, wasn't it?"

"Yes, sir."

"You got three A-Levels, didn't you?"

She nodded again. "English, History and Biology."

"And now you're a DC with the police." He smiled at her, indicating that she should sit in the chair opposite his. "I always knew you'd make something of yourself. Most girls who get pregnant at fourteen would have dropped out, but not you. You were always a hard worker."

"Nothing's changed there." Hannah agreed. "But I wanted to talk to you about the incident yesterday. I know DS Hunter was asking questions, but I just wanted to check as well, for my own peace of mind. Is there any CCTV footage of the man who was asking about Freya, Ellie and Max?"

"Unfortunately we're having problems with the system at the moment. We have informed the company and they're supposed to be sending someone out to look at it."

Hannah thought that it was slightly convenient, but said nothing. "Did you see the man? Would you be able to give me a description?"

"I was at a meeting yesterday afternoon with the local authority." Mr Hill told her apologetically. "The first I heard of all this was when I arrived this morning."

"Well I suppose all I can do is ask you to keep an eye out for any suspicious behaviour. If you see anyone acting oddly, please let us know. If you call Sun Hill police station and either ask for DI Nixon, DS Hunter, DC Masters or myself, I would be incredibly grateful."

With an assurance that he would phone the moment anything suspicious attracted their attention, Hannah left the office, making her way through the corridors just as the bell rang for the first lesson and teenagers began to stream towards her.

"Well I never!" A voice called as the detective pushed open the double doors that would take her into the reception area. "Hannah McKay."

Turning quickly, the woman spotted who'd spoken; a short, middle-aged woman who was clutching a large folder in front of her. "Miss Walker, how are you?"

"Surviving." The English teacher said with a sniff. "You're one person I never expected to see back here."

"I never expected to be back here." Hannah admitted. "But you're teaching my daughter AS Level English now, aren't you? How's she getting on?"

"You'd know if you'd bothered to turn up to autumn term parents' evening."

Hannah rolled her eyes, instantly remembering being sixteen again and constantly having the woman's comments and thinly veiled insults being thrown at her. "Funnily enough criminals don't schedule in parent's evenings."

"Oh yes, you're in the police now, aren't you? I always imagined you on the other side of the law."

"Sorry to disappoint you." Hannah said, sending the woman a sarcastic smile. "Anyway, lovely as this reunion was, I've got other scum to deal with."

Before she said anything more, the detective turned and headed quickly from the building. She stalked across the playground, her heels tapping loudly on the concrete. The only other sound was the screeching of seagulls obviously looking for scraps of food left behind by the hordes of teenagers. Once she was safely in her car, Hannah took a deep breath, steadying herself before turning the key in the ignition and heading into the police station.


	17. Chapter 17

"You're late, DC McKay." DI Manson pointed out as Hannah almost ran into CID, shooting a look at Jo as she moved to her desk and dropped into her chair. "Care to give me an explanation?"

"Sorry, Guv… the traffic was awful."

"Well don't get too comfortable, you've got a shout. Uniform just radioed in an aggravated burglary and the victim is none other than Frank Prole."

"The Casino King?" Hannah asked, her head tilted to one side as she regarded him with interest.

"The very same. I want you and Terry to get down there and see what you can find."

Heading for the doors, the pair nodded. "Guv."

Hannah let Terry drive; staring out of the window as they headed through the streets towards the address they'd been given. She was relieved to have been sent out as soon as she'd arrived; there was less chance for her to turn things over in her mind.

"It's not like you to be late." Terry pointed out, glancing sideways at the young woman as they sped through the almost deserted streets of Sun Hill. "Traffic? Late night, was it?"

"Something like that." She muttered, preferring to let him think she was hungover than having to explain anything. Seconds later her colleague drew the car to a halt outside a big black and white house. "This it?"

"What? Not posh enough for you?"

She smirked. "I've seen better."

Stalking towards the front door, the detective flashed her warrant card at anyone who looked like they were about to stop her. There were blood smears along the walls in the hall, leading to a large, tastefully decorated living room. The only thing that seemed out of place was a large, crimson blood stain in the middle of the cream carpet. Hannah surveyed the scene with distaste.

"Talk to me, Smithy." She commanded, glancing over her shoulder as the Sergeant entered the room.

"The French doors leading from the kitchen to the garden have been smashed in with the glass on the inside, so it was almost definitely the point of entry. There are signs of a struggle in the dining room and according to forensics the victim was stabbed in the hallway, near the front door, before making his way to the living room where he was discovered."

"Murder weapon?"

"We haven't found it yet, but there's a knife missing from the block in the kitchen." Smithy said with a shrug.

"Great, get your boys and girls onto it, darling." Hannah replied with a smile.

There was a long pause as she strode through the living room and into the kitchen. Smithy followed, watching as she scrutinised the scene carefully, taking in the smashed glass on the floor by the French doors and the single overturned kitchen chair. Her gaze moved to the knife block on the marble island in the centre of the room. Six out of the seven knives were still in place, with only the largest of them missing.

"Hannah? How are the kids?" The Sergeant asked gently, moving to stand close to the woman so that he could lower his voice.

She jumped slightly, whirling round. "They're fine, thanks."

"Everything sorted, now?"

"Yep." The woman agreed with a nod, not meeting his eyes. "You haven't told anyone?"

"No, course not."

Hannah reached out and squeezed his arm gratefully. "Thanks, love."

"Hannah?" Terry called, appearing in the kitchen doorway. Peering around Smithy, the woman nodded before she side-stepped past him and walked towards her older colleague, who had raised an eyebrow and was smirking at her. "Mr Prole's neighbour has given Uniform a description of a man she saw running away from the house after she heard a disturbance here. I want to get back to CID and see what I can dig up."

"Great. There are a couple of things I need to check out here before I head back. You go on and I'll get a lift with Uniform when I'm done."

He nodded and headed back to the station, used to the woman's way of working after spending five months on the same team. Hannah looked around for a while, spotting a tiny scrap of material in the doorframe that no one else had noticed, before Beth offered to drive her back to the station.

"I never imagined you with kids." The young woman said suddenly, a couple of minutes into their journey back to Sun Hill.

Slightly intrigued, Hannah turned to look at her. "Why?"

"I dunno… you're just… a little bit scary and totally committed to being a police officer."

She laughed. "There's no reason you can't be a dedicated cop and a Mum… and being a little bit scary helps on both counts."

"You must have worked really hard?" Beth speculated, slamming on the breaks as a cat darted out in front of the car. She gasped and started to panic, stalling the car as she attempted to pull away.

"Calm down; you're alright." Hannah told her supportively. "Take your time."

Once the car was moving smoothly again, the young PC turned to the older woman with a smile. "I can see you as a Mum now I've met your kids. They're really lucky."

"They're not all mine, Beth." She said with a small grin. "Just three of them; Max and Freya are my brother and sister."

"Yeah, I know, but they obviously think of you as their Mum. How old were you when Ellie was born?"

"You're bloody nosy, aren't you?" Hannah joked, raising an eyebrow. "Fourteen, if you must know. But this is just between us, right? I don't want my personal life spread around the station. Last time that happened I requested a transfer."

"I won't, I promise. Is that why you came here?"

The DC laughed softly, marvelling at just how many questions the young PC asked. "No, it was why I left Barton Street when I was twenty-two."

"You were at Barton Street?"

"Yep… PC Hannah McKay. Listen, Beth, you're a good copper… you listen to people and you empathise. That's something I've never really done, because I've never been able to let my guard down. I'm more likely to shout at someone until they crack and tell me what I want to know. Don't become the job, Beth."

Apparently unsure what to say, the young woman said nothing. She was bursting with questions for the unusually open DC, but she didn't want to step over the line. Beth had seen Hannah lose her temper and didn't particularly want to be on the receiving end of the older woman's anger.

Drawing up outside Sun Hill police station, Beth turned to smile at Hannah. "Here y'are."

"Thanks, darling." She said with a warm smile. "I'll catch you later. Let me know as soon as you find the weapon, alright?"

With a nod, the PC drove away and Hannah turned towards the building. She had only taken two steps when her mobile rang. With a sigh, she answered it, not checking the display as she expected it to be Smithy informing her that they'd found the knife.

"Hannah McKay."

"It's Smithy." The familiar voice said in her ear. "We've found the weapon."

"Fantastic, love. I'll tell Terry and we'll come over." She said delightedly.

The discovery of the knife turned out to be the breakthrough they needed. Fingerprints found on the handle were enough to lead them straight to the culprit and, by clocking off time, the case was closed. Jo had picked up the kids and taken them home while Hannah finished off the reports on the burglary case.

By the time the woman walked through her front door, the smell of dinner cooking greeted her and she was surprised to see her daughter and sister in the kitchen. Leaning on the counter, she accepted the glass of wine Jo was holding out to her and took a long sip.

"Have I walked into the wrong house?" She asked with a grin. Ellie crossed the room and wrapped her arms around her mother, burying her face in the woman's neck. "Hey? What's the matter, baby?"

"Nothing."

"Then what have I done to deserve this?"

Ellie smiled. "You're you."

Hannah chuckled. "Well, yes I am, but I thought I was irritating and interfering and what was the other thing? Oh yeah; the black hole into which every attempt at a social life vanishes."

"Don't forget that you've got the worst taste in men." Freya chipped in.

"Great, thanks, darling." Her sister shot back with a smirk. "So now we've finished pointing out all my bad points, are you going to explain your sudden interest in cooking?"

"Jo helped us. She said you deserved a bit of a rest." Moving to stand beside Hannah, Freya shrugged. "I never really remember that when you were our age you were bringing up two two-year-olds."

"And because of you, me and Freya don't have to worry about anything. We get to be kids when you never did."

The detective turned to where her friend was leaning against the fridge, watching the conversation with a mixture of interest and amusement. She thought she might actually cry at how thoughtful the older woman was. "Thank you, Jo. And thank you girls, this is so sweet of you."

Once they'd eaten and Max and Theo had cleared up and loaded the dishwasher, the six McKays and Jo curled up together on the sofa to watch a film. It was a bit of a squash, but none of them minded. When the credits rolled, Hannah yawned and looked sideways at her contented family. Theo and Molly were already asleep and Max and the girls were blinking sleepily as well.

"Come on, bed time you lot." Hannah murmured softly, not wanting to wake the sleeping children.

Carefully she lifted Theo into her arms from his position curled up on Jo's lap, smiling as he clung onto the brunette. She nodded to Freya, who was cradling a sleeping Molly in her arms and they headed up the stairs to put them to bed. As she was tucking her son in, Hannah realised that they hadn't actually discussed the fact that Jo was going to stay over again; they just knew that she was. The older woman's presence in the house that evening had just seemed right.

"Jo…" She murmured as she entered the living room, pulling the door closed behind her. She tried to fight the tears that were stinging in her eyes. "Thank you for tonight. I know the kids… but sometimes I feel like… I dunno… they deserve better."

"What d'you mean?" Jo asked gently. She reached out, almost tentatively, and squeezed Hannah's hand.

"I wonder whether they're such great kids in spite of me, rather than because of me." She admitted. Never before had the young woman had anyone to talk to like this. Her ex-partners hadn't ever been interested in her feelings and between her job and the children she had never had many friends. "I was so preoccupied with my career and wanting to do better for the kids, that I never had much time for them. Everything I've ever done has been for them, but they've spent more time with child-minders and teachers than they have with me."

"They adore you, Hannah."

She snorted cynically. "I don't see why."

"Because you're sarcastic and infuriating and stubborn and refuse to do as you're told."

"Thanks." Hannah muttered with a small sniff. "I feel so much better about myself now."

"There you are, see." Jo smirked. "You're also passionate and determined and loyal. You're funny and kind and caring and you never, never give up. You drive people insane and yet they still like you."

The younger woman sighed. "Why are you so lovely?"

"How much wine have you drunk?" Her friend laughed.

"Not enough."

They both fell into brooding silence, distracted by their own thoughts. Gradually the soft music Hannah had put on when she'd returned from putting her children to bed began to filter into both of their thoughts.

_You're the closest thing I know to love so __let me in__.__  
The moon is glowing white__  
And time's a-wasting__  
And don't you want to know__  
What happens when__  
We start at the start__  
Before it becomes that thing__  
That broke my heart in two.__  
We've been here before__  
That place where we dwell until__  
We find we both want something more._

_So let's pretend that for a moment_

_We have never loved before_

_Touch my skin __and I will kiss your lips _

_And __we can both ignore__  
That feeling of wait.  
What happens in time__?__  
I know this is cool for now__  
But I just might change my mind__  
And leave __you there in the dust.__  
I know that you loved me a lot__  
But it was never quite discussed._

_We start at the start__  
Before it becomes that thing__  
That broke my heart in two.__  
We've been here before__  
That place where we dwell until__  
We find we both want something more._

_And wait,_

_What happens in time?_

_I know this is cool for now__  
But I just might change my mind__  
And leave __you there in the dust.__  
I know that you loved me a lot__  
But it was never quite discussed._

As the song ended and the track changed, both women seemed to be drawn out of a daydream. Glancing at the coffee table, Jo saw that both their glasses were empty. She shuffled forwards, leaning across the younger woman to reach the wine bottle. To her immense surprise she felt a hand on either side of her face and then Hannah was kissing her. Startled, Jo gently pushed her friend away.

"Oh my god… Jo… I'm so, so sorry…" Hannah apologised, putting her head in her hands. "You're one of the first decent people to come into my life and I've gone and messed everything up."

With a sigh, Jo pulled the younger woman towards her and held her tightly. Hannah tried to wriggle free, but her friend held on. "You're confused and upset. It's alright, sweetheart. I won't hold it against you."

"Out of everything that's happened lately this is the only thing that makes sense."

Furrowing her eyebrows, Jo moved away slightly, her eyes sweeping over the pretty face looking at her. Hannah's gaze was steady as their eyes met. "What d'you mean?"

"The first time I met you there was something that I couldn't explain. It was like I was drawn to you; I didn't want to be, I tried to ignore it because it terrified me. I was extra annoying to you to try and keep you at bay. The more I tried to distance myself from you, the stronger the feeling got."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Why d'you think? I was scared." Hannah asked with such an expression of self-loathing on her face that Jo almost recoiled. "Look at you; you're gorgeous and funny and so kind. You can do so much better than me. And then there's me; thirty-one-years-old, totally screwed up, raising five kids and spending most of my time at work just so I can afford to look after them. What a catch…"

"Stop it." The older woman commanded, taking Hannah's face in her hands gently as her words cut into her heart. "I thought you were straight."

"So did I until I met you. It all makes sense now, though."

Rather than replying in words, Jo leant forwards and pressed her lips to Hannah's. At first the kiss was soft and gentle, the two women relishing the feel of their lips against the other's after months of imagining it. Feeling Hannah's tongue running along her bottom lip, Jo opened her mouth, allowing her access. Both women sighed at the closer contact. The passion Jo had mentioned moments before in her defence of the younger woman was making itself known and she let herself be pushed backwards into the sofa cushions as Hannah straddled her lap, pressing their bodies closer together. They broke apart breathlessly as Jo's hands found their way inside Hannah's top.

"Not here…" The younger woman said huskily. She stood up taking Jo by the hand and led her upstairs.

* * *

_**A/N: The lyrics in this chapter are from **_**Never Quite Discussed**_** by **_**Terra Naomi**_**. It's a beautiful song, so go listen to it! :)**_


	18. Chapter 18

Hannah blinked awake wondering why she was in the spare bedroom and why someone was curled up behind her. The soft, warm body pressed against hers, one arm draped over her stomach, felt right. Reluctantly the young woman tried to extricate herself from Jo's arms, but only succeeded in waking her up.

Sitting up and pulling her top back over her head, Hannah turned and smiled at Jo. Instantly she read the expression on the older woman's face and leant down to kiss her. When she was sure that she had convinced Jo that she had no regrets, Hannah stood up and put her jeans on.

"I need to go and wake the kids." She told her, giggling as Jo pulled her back down on the bed.

"Are you sure you've never done that before?" Jo asked cheekily, tucking a loose strand of Hannah's hair behind her ear and thinking back to the night before. "I'm not sure I believe that I'm the first woman you've slept with."

Shrugging, Hannah kissed her once more, before rolling out of her reach and moving to the door. "Well you'd better believe it, baby. I've never even kissed a woman before. If you want a shower go now before the kids drag themselves out of their pits."

A while later Hannah was trying to convince Molly to eat her cereal, rather than throwing it at her. Jo entered the kitchen, smirking at the younger woman as she passed. Catching the look that had passed between the two detectives, Ellie nudged Freya and grinned. As her Mother looked up, both girls looked down at their breakfasts, still grinning.

"What's wrong with you two?" Hannah asked curiously.

"Nothing." They chorused at once.

Shrugging, the woman moved to load the discarded plates and cups into the dishwasher. "Jo, are you busy tonight? I've got to take the boys to the dentist… would you mind watching the girls for me? I understand if you're busy."

"I'm never too busy to hang out with you lot." She said with a grin.

"Thanks, babe, that's a massive help." Hannah murmured distractedly, using the term of endearment she usually reserved for only her family without thinking. She rushed around the kitchen, vanishing from the room every couple of seconds and returning with something else in her arms. Pushing a pile of clothes into the washing machine, she glanced at the clock. "Guys, hurry up, please. I can't afford to be late again this morning. The DI will kill me this time."

"Calm down." Jo told her gently, grasping the woman by her upper arms and forcing her to stand still for a moment. "I'll take the girls and Max to school."

Hannah sighed with relief. "That'll save me taking the seven-seater and coming back to swap cars…" She glanced at the clock again. "Theo, shoes on."

Arriving at the station ten minutes before the start of her shift, Hannah breathed a sigh of relief. She punched the code into the keypad beside the staircase that led to CID and climbed the stairs quickly.

"Glad to see you're back on form and on time, Hannah." Neil told her with a nod, passing the DC's desk on route to his office.

"Yes, Guv." She muttered, glancing towards the door as Jo appeared, shooting her a fleeting grin before turning her eyes back to the paperwork in front of her.

Hearing the other DI's words, Sam moved to perch on the desk in front of the young red-head. She smiled at her. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, Sam…"

"Really?"

Hannah sighed. "Jo's been a massive help with the kids. I can't seem to get my head straight where they're concerned at the moment."

"Have there been any developments?"

"No… nothing since the photos. I've spoken to Canley Primary and Comprehensive about security and I've got descriptions of a man who was hanging around both and my child-minder's house that day. So far nothing's come up on CRIMINT or CRIS indicating he's done anything like this before."

"Could it be someone you know?" Sam asked.

With a shrug, Hannah shook her head. "I obviously can't rule it out, but I just don't know who it could be."

"An ex-partner?"

"No… apart from the fact that the description doesn't match them, with the exception of Ellie's, none of my kids dads have stuck around long enough to meet them let alone find out where they are now. And, before you ask, Jake would never do anything like this. He might have serious faults, but he'd never use the kids to get to me." She replied matter-of-factly. Seeing the pity in her superior's eyes, the red-head smiled weakly. "Honestly, Sam, until this guy does something else there's nothing we can do; you know the score."

"If you need to take some time off…"

"No, seriously, I'm fine. I've pretty much got the kids on lock-down, which is annoying them, but at least they're safe. I'm just hoping that whatever he does next is to me, not them."

"Hannah!" Sam exclaimed, shocked by her words and the expression on her face. When the woman didn't reply, the DI straightened up and reached out, squeezing her friend's arm.

"Am I still alright to pop out this afternoon?" Hannah asked, sensing that her boss was stuck for words. "I have to take the boys to the dentist, but it shouldn't take too long."

"Course."

As Sam headed away, immediately drawn into conversation with Stuart and Grace, Hannah looked back at her paperwork. She felt useless just sitting at her desk while the man who had sent her the photos and asked questions about her kids was out and about doing who-knows-what. Hannah wasn't worried for herself at all; she was approaching the situation as any other case where she had thrown herself in, feet first, thinking about consequences later.

"Hannah, Phil?" Neil called, leaning out of his office and motioning them towards him. Once the two detectives were seated in front of his desk, he passed each a file. "I want you two on this case."

"What is it, Guv?" Phil asked, not bothering to open his file.

The woman rolled her eyes as she scanned the information she'd been handed. Her stomach flipped over as she realised what the case was about, repressed memories of her undercover operation resurfacing sickeningly. "Trafficking?"

"We've had a tip-off that there's a shipment of clothes coming in from China on Friday night and that it'll be stored in a warehouse on the Canley Industrial Estate." DI Manson told them quickly. "We think that as well as the clothes, the shipment will contain up to twenty young girls. The shipment needs to be intercepted on its way in, before any transaction can take place and we lose them."

"So what d'you want us to do, Guv?" Hannah asked, thinking she had some idea of what was coming.

"I'm pulling you off your current cases and putting you on the night shift." He told them. "I want you to go home, get some sleep and be back here at eight."

Nodding, the two detectives headed out of the office, sighing. Neither was particularly impressed by being put on the graveyard shift, although Hannah guessed that she had been assigned the case as punishment for losing her temper several times recently and being late the day before.

"Sam's gonna do her nut." Phil muttered, moving to his desk and gathering up his things. "We were supposed to be going out for dinner tonight because it's Valentine's Day tomorrow and she's working the early shift on Friday."

"Just buy her the biggest bunch of flowers you can find and blame me. Tell her I got us into trouble and this is punishment. My DS in Cardiff used that excuse all the time. Besides, Sam knows me so she'll buy it." The young woman told him with a smile.

Phil chuckled and headed out of the office calling that he'd pick her up on his way into the station that evening. With a sigh, Hannah picked up her jacket and shoved her phone and purse into her pockets. Jangling her car keys in one hand, she moved across the room to perch on Jo's desk. The older woman smiled at her, reaching out to move a stack of files so that she could sit more comfortably on the surface and brushing the back of her fingers lightly along Hannah's thigh as she did so. At the contact, the younger woman shivered involuntarily, causing Jo to grin wickedly.

"Any chance you can stay over again for the next few nights?"

Jo arched an eyebrow. "Is that a proposition, DC McKay?"

"Sadly not." Hannah admitted. "The DI's put me on the night shift with Phil. Apparently there are young women being trafficked in from China and he wants us on the case. This really couldn't come at a worse time."

"Course I will." Jo reassured her, taking Hannah's hand in hers and squeezing it.

"Thanks… I'd better go and get some sleep, or I won't be in any fit state to work tonight."

Hannah only just remembered that she was supposed to be taking Theo and Max to the dentist, racing round to their schools to pick them up. When they returned to the house she found that Jo had picked up Freya, Ellie and Molly and the seven of them spent a couple of hours together before Hannah headed out to wait for Phil outside, leaving Jo in charge.

The shift passed incredibly slowly and both detectives were snappy due to their lack of sleep and being dragged away from their homes to work the night shift. By clocking off time, Hannah was ready to drop. Phil's car drew up outside her house just before seven and Hannah let herself in, trying to be as quiet as she could.

"Morning." An amused voice murmured from the kitchen doorway, causing her to jump and turn round. "You really aren't a morning person, are you, sweetheart?"

"No… even when the morning is technically the evening." Hannah mumbled, moving towards the taller woman and folding herself into Jo's outstretched arms. "Everything alright here?"

"Fine." She chuckled as a huge yawn racked Hannah's body. "Go to bed."

"There's no point 'cos I'll have to be up soon to get the kids sorted."

"Don't be silly. I can deal with all that."

Shaking her head, the younger woman pulled away, moving past Jo to make herself a mug of strong, black coffee. "It's fine; they're used to seeing me every morning, even if I'm working nights. I can sleep when you're all out. Besides, you've heard the racket that goes on in the mornings."

"Is that sensible?"

"I appreciate you helping out, Jo, and I'm happier than I can tell you that you're here, but if you keep arguing with me we're seriously going to fall out."

Jo laughed. "You're far too independent for your own good, Miss McKay." When Hannah just smiled at her, the older woman moved towards her, running her hands up and down the woman's sides lightly. "Well if you're not going to sleep, I have a suggestion about how we can spend the next half an hour."


	19. Chapter 19

"We really need to get up!" Hannah giggled softly, a while later. She stopped struggling as Jo captured her lips with her own, kissing her softly.

"No we don't. We've got ten minutes yet." The brunette argued, running a hand lightly down the younger woman's arm.

Sighing, Hannah conceded the point and allowed herself to be drawn closer into Jo's embrace, snuggling into her arms. She almost shivered as the brunette's hands explored her exposed flesh, tracing patterns lightly over her skin. Jo paid close attention to the slightly raised skin that betrayed the many scars Hannah had received over her lifetime.

"I think you've got more scars that anyone I've ever met." The brunette murmured. She ran her finger over the almost circular mark on Hannah's shoulder lightly. "How did you get this one?"

"A bar brawl on a match day when I was still in Uniform." The red-head told her sleepily, relaxing into Jo's arms even more. "I was trying to pull two guys apart when another guy stabbed me with a broken bottle. Somehow he got the bottle under my stab vest."

Jo's hand wandered downwards, tracing the small scar on her side that she had received a month or so before at the hands of Paul Freeman. Her fingers trailed across Hannah's stomach, making her squirm as the light touch tickled. As her hand moved round to the younger woman's lower back, she felt a series of raised lines and frowned. "What about these?"

"Those are Ashley Jamieson's handiwork." Hannah said softly, clamping her eyes closed so that she didn't have to see the expression in Jo's.

Shuffling backwards slightly, the brunette rolled Hannah carefully onto her stomach so that she could examine the wounds more closely. She was shocked at what she saw. Although it had been three years ago, the five long, raised scars that ran diagonally from the middle of her back down to her right hip were still painfully obvious. Jo thought they looked as though the skin had split and new flesh had filled in the gap. Leaning down, she pressed her lips to each scar in turn, before moving Hannah back onto her side and kissing her cheek.

"You're beautiful." She said softly.

Hannah shook her head, rolling onto her back and turning her head away. "No… they're disgusting. I'm disgusting."

Gently forcing the red-head to look at her, Jo shook her head. "You're wrong."

"I'm never wrong." She mumbled stubbornly.

With a smirk, Jo swung one leg over the younger woman, straddling her and pinning Hannah's arms above her head. She bent down to kiss the exposed skin of the woman's neck. "We'll soon see about that."

x-x

"Mum... these were on the doorstep. Anything you want to tell us?" Ellie asked the next morning with a broad grin. She deposited a large, expensive-looking bunch of flowers on the kitchen table.

"Who says they're mine?" Hannah replied sleepily, leaning back against the kitchen counter and taking a gulp from her mug. She briefly wondered whether Jo had left them for her before going into work. She hadn't mentioned anything when they'd bumped into each other in the hall; Hannah just getting home from work and Jo just leaving. "They might be for you or Freya."

"Yeah, except that the envelope says your name on it."

Hannah held out her hand for the small envelope concealed within the blooms. She opened it quickly, glancing at the card inside and frowning. Intrigued by her reaction, Ellie plucked it from her hands and read it. She passed the card to Freya, who had just appeared in the kitchen, with a smirk.

"You and me; forever and always. S." She read aloud. "Who's 'S'?"

Hannah shrugged. "I have literally no idea, babe. Why would someone send me flowers anyway?"

Freya rolled her eyes. "Do you not know what day it is, Hans?"

"Thursday..."

"It's Valentine's Day, idiot!" The blonde teenager laughed. "Someone obviously fancies you."

"Who?" Ellie asked, sounding incredulous.

Hannah prodded her in the ribs. "Cheers, love." Then she looked back at the flowers in bemusement.

"Well who do you know whose name begins with an 'S' who might send you flowers for Valentine's day?"

"I don't know... No one!"

"What about Sam?" Ellie joked. "Maybe she feels sorry for you?"

"You and me; forever and always." Hannah reminded her. "I don't think so, do you?"

"Maybe not..." The younger red-head agreed. "What about Smithy?"

"Smithy? Nah... We're mates, that's all."

"What about Steve from the garage?" Freya suggested, remembering the mechanic who'd flirted with her sister the whole time they'd been there about her car.

"It's a bit of a weird message to send someone you've only met a couple of times." The detective muttered. "You sure this isn't just you two messing about?"

"Promise." They told her together.

Frowning, Hannah moved the bouquet off the table, laying them on the kitchen counter out of the way. She dropped the card in the bin, ignoring the teenager's calls for her to do some digging around and find out who'd sent them. Hannah told them firmly that whoever it was could tell her themselves but she wasn't going to waste time thinking about it.

x-x

Two nights later, the raid on the warehouse and the search of the lorries turned up everything they needed to make their arrests and both Hannah and Phil were relieved that they would be back on their usual shift after a well-deserved weekend off. Hannah's mood was further lifted when Jo told her that she had the weekend off as well and they were able to spend it together. Jo had, however, denied all knowledge of the flowers that had arrived on Valentine's Day, teasing the red-head about having a possible rival for the younger woman's affections.

Everyone seemed to have adapted incredibly quickly to having Jo around. It was as if she was meant to be a part of the family and had always been there. Hannah marvelled at the way the kids bowed down to her authority without question, something she'd never seen them do before. Usually it was only her they listened to without argument; knowing that if she said something, she meant it. Apparently they believed the same of Jo.

She had broached the subject of their relationship with the children on Sunday. Jo had gone home in the afternoon when Hannah decided she needed to inform her family of the truth, realising that she needed to speak to them alone. Coming to the conclusion that Theo was too young for the conversation, she waited until he and Molly were in bed before sitting the three teenagers down at the kitchen table. They realised that something serious was coming, because they only ever sat at the table to eat or have important conversations.

"What's happened?" Freya asked before her sister could even open her mouth.

"It's nothing bad." Hannah assured her quickly. "In fact it's bloody good."

"What?"

"You know how you're always going on at me to find someone and go on dates and things… well I have."

Max looked as though he was trying to decide whether he was curious, or whether he should be playing the defensive brother role. "Who is it?"

"You're shagging Jo, aren't you?" Ellie asked before her mother could reply.

Hannah frowned at the teenager's choice of phrase. "Well I wouldn't exactly have put it like that. In future please don't use that word, Ellie; it's not nice."

"Are you, though?" Freya asked. Max looked confused, but neither girl even looked remotely surprised.

"How would you feel about it if I was?"

The red-headed teenager shrugged. "I really like Jo. She's lovely and I don't think she'll hurt you; not intentionally, anyway. If you're happy then I'm happy, Mum."

"Just don't fuck it up, Hans."

"Thanks, Freya." Hannah rolled her eyes. "I'd kinda already told myself that."

"So are you a lesbian now?" Max asked, still looking confused.

She shrugged. "No... I don't think so. I just… like Jo. Does that bother you?" All three teenagers shook their heads, grinning at her, much to the woman's relief.

"Maybe things will work out better this time?" Ellie suggested wisely. "I mean, you've never had any luck with guys; maybe you and Jo are like fate or something? Maybe you should have gone for girls from the beginning. At least that way you wouldn't have been hurt so many times."

"Then I wouldn't have you or your brother and sister." Hannah reminded her. "I'd go through all the heartache over and over again without a second thought for you lot."

Freya rested her chin on her hand. "Is it serious?"

"It's early days, baby."

"So what? I've never seen you like this before." Her daughter replied. "It's like… it's like you're in love."

Hannah snorted with laughter, standing up to fill the kettle so that she didn't have to look at the teenagers. "Love? What's that?"

"Don't act all tough with us, Han." Freya ordered. "Does Jo know you love her?"

"I thought you told me not to fuck it up?"

"I think she loves you too."

"Yes, well… you're sixteen. What do you know?" The woman shrugged, uncomfortable about having that particular conversation and resorting to being dismissive of the teenagers' opinions. Max was carefully looking anywhere but at his sister, obviously struggling with her news. "Tea?"

Taking pity on her mother's discomfort, Ellie stood up to help her make the drinks. She reached up to retrieve four mugs from the cupboard. "Where is Jo, anyway?"

"She went home so you had a chance to get used to the idea without her here. She was worried that you'd take the news badly."

Rolling her eyes, the teenager pulled her mobile out of her pocket and, to Hannah's confusion, dialled a number before she held the phone firmly to her ear. "Jo? You and Mum aren't as sly as you think you are. For detectives you're pretty easy to see through. Me and Freya have known for days… course we do…. don't be silly. Come back and watch a film with us. It feels wrong without you here."

"Give me that." The detective murmured, pulling the phone away from her daughter. "Babe, it's Han. Yeah, I know… her exact words were, 'you're shagging Jo, aren't you?' I know, I know… I think they found it easier to deal with than I did, although Max looks a little shell-shocked."

"No I don't!" He snapped indignantly as the females started laughing.

"Yeah, of course, babe; see you soon." She ended the call and handed her mobile back to Ellie. "Jo's coming round. Don't you dare be cheeky to her."

"So… do I have to start calling her Mum?" Ellie joked, grinning.

Laughing softly, her mother shook her head. "Nutter."

* * *

**_A/N: Hello! Just wanted to say thanks to all of you who are reading/reviewing/pm-ing me! It means a lot to know that you're enjoying this! :D_**

**_And to those asking whether there's gonna be any smut... no. I tried writing smut in another fic and it was so bad that I was laughing for about ten minutes. I will leave smut to those who are actually good at it!_**


	20. Chapter 20

Hannah was so relaxed at home, now that she and Jo didn't have to pretend around the children anymore, that she had started to fool herself that whoever had sent her the photos was just messing around and nothing more would happen. Almost a week had passed since the two incidents that had set her on edge and not a sniff of anything odd had happened. Although she knew deep down it couldn't be that case, Hannah was hoping that it was over. She spent more time at work worrying that their colleagues could see what was going on between her and Jo, than thinking about who had taken the photos.

"Hannah McKay." She said as she answered her mobile on Monday afternoon. The red-headed detective ducked out of the station, smiling at Mickey as he passed and using the call as an excuse for a quick cigarette.

"It's Smithy."

Lighting up, she smiled. "What's up, darling?"

"We've had a report of an IC2 male matching the description of the misper you're investigating sleeping rough down by the docks." The Sargent informed her quickly. "I thought you might want to pop down and take a look for yourself."

"Fantastic. Is there anyone nearby in a car that can give me a lift?"

He chuckled. "You are so lazy! But I think Tony's near the station."

"Radio him and tell them to pick me up on the corner of Oxon Street and Mayler Place."

"Will do."

"Thanks love, see you in ten."

"It's a date." He joked.

Making sure there was nothing coming, she jogged across the busy road outside the station smirking. "I reckon this has got to be the most romantic date I've been on, Smithy."

"Never let it be said that Sergeant Dale Smith doesn't know how to treat a lady… or even a detective constable."

"Promises, promises." She laughed dropping her cigarette end to the ground and stepping on it, before hanging up and pushing her mobile into her jacket pocket.

She strode confidently along the road, heading for the corner she'd told Smithy to direct the Uniform car to. Pulling her jacket and scarf more tightly around her as a defence against the late February cold, she perched on the wall to wait. After less than a minute Hannah heard a car draw up behind her and turned, confused, to see a black Peugeot rather than the police car that she had been expecting.

"Hi…" A blonde woman in the driver's seat called out. Thinking that she must be looking for directions, the detective crossed to the window. "Hannah McKay?"

Suddenly suspicious, Hannah frowned. "Who wants to know?"

"Alison Hardcastle." She replied, as though the detective should recognise the name. When there wasn't a single hint of recognition on the younger woman's face, she scowled slightly. "Simon's sister?"

"Sorry… I don't know anyone called Simon. You must have the wrong person." Hannah told her, wondering how the woman knew her name.

Before the red-head realised what was happening, the car door opened quickly. The metal frame hit her in the head and immediately sent her spiralling into infinite blackness.

x-x

Hannah opened her eyes gingerly, a splitting pain in her head. She raised a hand and felt a lump the size of an egg on her forehead. Wincing she prodded at it, trying to assess the damage.

"Sorry I had to do that." A woman's voice said apologetically. Moments later the blonde woman from the car appeared in the room smiling sympathetically at her.

"Who are you?" Hannah demanded angrily. She had realised that her legs and right arm were tied securely to a hard, wooden chair. "What do you want?"

"I want to know why you said you don't know Simon."

"Because I don't! What was your name again?"

"Alison Hardcastle."

"Listen, Alison, I'm really sorry, but you've got the wrong person. I promise you I don't know your brother. I don't know anyone called Simon."

"You're DC Hannah McKay, aren't you? You work at Sun Hill CID?"

"Well, yeah, but–"

"And you live at 26 Corrison Avenue with your brother and sister and three children?"

Hannah went white. "How do you know that?"

"Simon told me!"

"How does he know that?"

"Because he's your boyfriend. Why are you denying it?"

"He's not my boyfriend, Alison. I don't have a boyfriend."

The woman pulled something out of her pocket and thrust it into Hannah's hand. "That's you, Theo and Molly at Canley Market last Saturday, isn't it? You were there with Simon and he took your photo."

"That... I..." Hannah was lost for words. Her mouth went dry as she stared at the photograph in her hands. It was undeniably a picture of her and her younger children taken when and where the woman had said; except that they had been with Jo, not Alison's brother. Terrified, Hannah looked at the woman standing over her. "What do you want?"

"I want to know why you're denying that my brother is your boyfriend. He went round to your house a couple of days ago and saw you with another man. Who was that?"

Trying to think of a way out of the situation, as well as trying to work out what the woman was talking about, Hannah shrugged. "That was my colleague, DS Hunter. He picked me up for work."

"And who is this Smithy you were just arranging a date with?"

"What? Were you following me?" The detective struggled against the ropes holding her in the chair. "Smithy is my friend and my colleague… we were joking. The 'date' we were arranging was an investigation into a sighting of a missing person."

"I don't believe you!"

"Is that why Simon sent those photos of the kids to the station? Because he thought Phil Hunter was my boyfriend?"

"And why wouldn't the child-minder let Simon pick Molly up on Monday?" Alison continued, not registering that the detective had asked her questions.

"Because she doesn't know who he is! I don't know who Simon is!" Hannah shouted, on the verge of tears. "Why are you doing this?"

"Where are the children now? Simon was supposed to be taking you all out for dinner to celebrate him moving in. It's nearly five, so they're not at school."

The detective almost laughed. She was absolutely terrified by the complex fantasy this Simon seemed to have concocted and just how much he knew about her and her family. At least she assumed that it was Simon's fantasy and his sister was just repeating what she'd heard. Then again, it had been Alison who'd knocked her out, dragged her into the car and tied her to the kitchen chair. Perhaps she was the fantasist; although it had been a man who'd tried to pick up the children the day before. Hannah wasn't sure what to think, except that she was in a very dangerous situation.

"Listen to me, Alison. My children are safe. They have never met your brother and neither have I. I don't know what he's told you, but it's all in his head."

Without warning there was a loud slap and Hannah's right cheek began to burn. It took a moment to register that Alison had hit her and a moment longer for the uncomfortable, itchy feeling of blood trickling down her cheek to make Hannah realise that the woman must be wearing a ring that had cut her at the same time.

"Alison... You have to let me go. I was supposed to be meeting two PCs on the corner where you abducted me hours ago. Smithy was expecting me. They'll realise that something's wrong because I'm not answering my phone and they'll check the CCTV. Jo knows all about what your brother's doing and will come and find me."

"Who is this Joe?" The woman snapped, mistaking the name for a man's. "First you've got this DS Hunter at your house late at night, then you're arranging dates with a man called Smithy and now there's some other guy ringing you. Simon said he thought you were cheating on him."

Angrily, Hannah glared at the woman. "Jo, as in DC Joanne Masters, is my colleague and my friend. She knows all about your brother trying to pick up the kids yesterday and she knows that I don't know him! She's read the statements and heard the description of him that Phil got from the schools and my child-minder. If you don't let me go right now I swear I'll do you for false imprisonment."

"You are such a liar. My brother wouldn't make something like this up. I thought you must be too good to be true. He was always going on about how perfect you were."

"How long am I supposed to have been his girlfriend?"

"Five months."

"And don't you think it's a bit strange that you've never met me before if we supposedly had such a perfect relationship?"

"I'm away on business a lot and Simon said you were busy with work."

"And have you ever seen a photo of us together?" Hannah demanded.

"Only one."

The detective clutched the arms of the chair she was bound to in confusion. "When and where was it taken?"

"He said it was just after New Year; you were in bed."

Hannah thought she was going to faint or be sick; or possibly both. The knowledge that this man had been in her house – in her room – while she'd been asleep made her more scared than she'd been in her life. The kids had been in the house; anything could have happened.

"This is sick." She murmured. "Your brother is sick."

"You're still denying it?" Alison asked in disbelief. "I'm going to ring Simon and get him to come over."

"Fine, do it!" Hannah challenged her furiously, more confidently than she felt.

As soon as the woman left the room, the detective began to struggle with the ropes tying her to the chair. With the hand that had been left loose, she tore at the knot, managing to work it free enough to slide her other hand out. Glancing nervously at the door, she bent to tackle the ropes around her ankles. Frustrated, she wrenched her right leg upwards, gasping with pain as a crack accompanied her limb jolting free.

Sliding from the chair, Hannah hobbled across the kitchen to where her jacket had been discarded on the worktop. Hunting urgently through her pockets, she pulled out her mobile and called Jo's number.

"Han?" The worried voice came through after one ring. "Where the hell are you?"

"I don't know. I've been abducted by someone called Alison Hardcastle. Apparently her brother is convinced that I'm his girlfriend and we've been together for five months. I don't even know anyone called Simon."

"Wait… Simon Hardcastle?" Jo asked, her voice sounding distant. The red-head guessed that the phone had been put on loudspeaker. "Why does that name sound familiar?" There was a pause, during which Hannah nervously glanced at the door. "The very first case we worked on together… the drugs in Canley Market. Simon Hardcastle was the stall holder suspected of dealing."

"Of course!" The younger woman breathed. "We proved he had nothing to do with the drugs. So why is he doing this?"

"Sam's found an address, sweetheart. We're coming." Jo told her quickly.

"You better." Hannah replied. "Where are the kids? Please tell me they're safe."

Before Jo could answer, the red-headed detective was grabbed from behind and her phone was knocked out of her hand. As she was bundled back over to the chair, she could hear Jo's anxious voice on the other end of the call. Unprepared for an attack and taken by surprise, the young woman found herself back in the chair, her wrists taped tightly to the arms before she could react. Kicking out, swearing and shrieking in annoyance as her captor attempted to trap her legs as well, another stinging slap caused her to wince. Once she was secure the blonde woman crossed to Hannah's mobile and ended the call, pushing the phone into her pocket.

"Why did you do that?"

"I was speaking to my colleague. I remember who your brother is now."

Alison narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You remember?"

"Yes, I remember. I haven't seen him since he was part of an investigation I was working on five months ago."

"No, that's not right. He told me that was how you met; that you proved he was innocent and he asked you out for a drink to thank you."

Hannah shook her head. "He never asked me out, Alison. He left the station and I went home to my family and I haven't seen him since. Whatever he thinks has happened is all in his head."

"He's not mad."

"He clearly needs psychiatric help." She snapped, displaying her usual lack of tack.

Angrily, the woman standing over her lashed out again. Unable to defend herself due to the duct tape tightly around her arms and legs, Hannah squirmed and tried to prevent the blows raining down on her.

"Get off me you mad cow!" Hannah gasped and, finally, the attack stopped. Breathing heavily, the red-head watched as her captor paced the kitchen distractedly. "You're adding assaulting a police officer to your list, are you?"

"Don't you ever shut up?"

"Not usually, no." The detective admitted with a shrug, her eyes burning with anger. "So? What's the plan? Are we just going to wait around here until my colleagues come and find me?"

"No… Simon's coming to pick us up."

Hannah stopped struggling against the thick tape holding her to the chair. "Pick us up?"

"He's going to take us somewhere safe so you can talk."

Thinking of the implications of that, her heart sank as she heard a key in the front door. Alison moved through into the hallway, pulling the door closed behind her and Hannah heard the soft murmur of a conversation taking place. While she was alone the young detective tried to wriggle first one hand and then the other free of the tape, but it was hopeless.

"What's going on?" She demanded, forcing herself to sound annoyed, rather than scared, as the blonde woman appeared in the kitchen once more.

"We're going. Come on."

Taking hold of a large pair of scissors, she advanced on Hannah who recoiled instinctively, her eyes glued to the weapon coming towards her. Closing her eyes, the young woman felt the cold metal sliding between her skin and the tape on her right wrist before there was a snipping sound and she could move her arm. The scissors slipped as Alison freed Hannah's other wrist, the blade stabbing into her forearm and sending a searing pain through the detective.

"Sorry…" Alison murmured as blood began to pool from the wound, dripping down onto the arm of the chair, before dropping onto the floor tiles. Hannah didn't make a sound, staring at the scarlet liquid in revolution. "Stay still…"

"Hannah?" A male voice called and footsteps came towards the kitchen.

"I told you to wait in the car, Simon." Alison snapped at the tall, dark-haired man who had appeared in the doorway, looking down at the red-head still attached to the chair by the tape around her injured ankle. She ripped the tape off roughly, taking her annoyance out on the young woman. "We're on our way."

Ignoring her, Simon knelt on the ground in front of Hannah, taking her foot gently in his hands. "What happened to your ankle, darling?"

"Get off!" She snapped, wincing as she dragged her foot away from him. "And don't call me darling."

"What's the matter? You've just caught your ankle awkwardly. There's no permanent damage; no harm done."

"What… what's the matter?" She repeated, gaping at him. "Are you completely off your rocker? Your sister has abducted me, tied me to a chair and beaten me up and now you're planning on taking me god-knows-where and doing god-knows-what to me and you're saying there's no harm done."

"I'd never hurt you, Hans, you know that." He told her gently, reaching up to cup her cheek.

Hannah batted him away. "Don't touch me! I don't know you! I interviewed you once on a case five months ago and that's it."

"Don't be silly; we love each other. I know everything about you. You're Hannah Coco McKay, born 29th May 1976 in St Hugh's hospital, Canley. Your parents, Pete McKay and Sharon Hoyland, moved to Aberdeen on New Year's Day, 1997. Your dad died of a heart attack when you were twenty-five and your mum died of an overdose last July. You have a scar on your thigh where you were stabbed saving a colleague from a junkie and you have a scar on your shoulder where you were attacked with a broken bottle in a pub."

"How do you know all that?" She screamed at the man, stepping away from him and pushing the chair backwards so violently that it crashed to the floor. The detective had never told anyone about her parents' deaths, not even Jo.

"You broke your wrist tackling an armed robber when you weren't even on duty." He continued, stepping towards her, completely ignoring the terrified expression on her face. "Your favourite song is either _God and Satan_ by Biffy Clyro or anything by Terra Naomi, especially _Million Ways_. Your favourite colour is green and your favourite film is _The Bad Mother's Handbook_."

Hannah couldn't find any words to reply. She couldn't get her head around how much the man knew about her. He reached out again and she stumbled backwards, pressing up against the sink.

"Come on… let's get out of here." Alison ordered glancing at her watch. "We haven't got all day."

"Why?" The detective snapped. "Something you want to watch on telly?"

"No, but I don't think it's wise to leave Molly in the car alone much longer."

The woman clutching at the sink nearly collapsed, her knees giving way as she realised what the blonde had said. Breathing quickly, she tried to push past the man in front of her in an attempt to reach her daughter. Simon caught her round the waist, holding her tightly.

"Hey, hey! What's the matter?" He asked, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and wrapping it round the wound on her arm.

"You have my baby… I swear to god I will kill you if you've done anything to her."

He frowned. "Why would I do anything to her? I just picked her up from the child-minder's for you."

"Let me have her… now!" She screamed, fighting against him as he closed his hands around her wrists.

"I don't think it's a good idea when you're in this state. You'll terrify her."

Instantly Hannah stopped fighting and screaming. Her voice dropped dangerously low and she narrowed her eyes. "I am warning you now; you better hope that the police find us before long, because at this moment in time I'm seriously considering doing something I doubt I'll regret but would be very bad for my career. Now get your hands off me and give me back my daughter."

"Hannah, you really need to calm down." Simon tried to soothe her. He kept hold of her wrists tightly, pulling her through the hall and towards the car parked outside.


	21. Chapter 21

"Jo, have you seen Hannah?" Nikki Wright asked as Jo passed her in the corridor.

The brunette stopped and shook her head. "No? Not since lunchtime anyway, Sarge."

"It's just that Smithy spoke to her about the misper case she was investigating and arranged for Tony and Leela to pick her up in the area car on the corner between Oxon Street and Mayler Place at about three o'clock." The Sergeant told her slightly distractedly. "She wasn't there when they arrived and they haven't been able to get hold of her since."

Glancing at her watch, Jo paled. "That was an hour and a half ago… why hasn't anyone picked up on it 'til now?"

"We all know what Hannah's like, Jo. We assumed she'd gone off on one of her missions, following up her own leads." Nikki reasoned.

"She would have phoned Smithy."

"You and I both know she probably wouldn't." The blonde said. Forced to admit that it was highly unlikely that Hannah would have remembered to inform the Sergeant of a change of plan, Jo sighed. "Look, I thought I should ask you because you seem to be one of the only people around here who can keep track of her."

"Yeah, thanks… I'll try and find out where she's got to."

The brunette detective had just turned to head towards CID to find out whether anyone else had seen or heard from Hannah, when a voice called after her. "Jo!"

"Guv…" She muttered, turning and seeing DCI Meadows striding towards her.

"We've just had a call from a child-minder called Jasmine Carter. Apparently one of the children she looks after has just been abducted." He said. "She was in such a state that we couldn't get much else out of her. I want you and Sam to get down there and check it out. PC Fletcher's got her details on the desk."

"No, Guv, it's alright… I know where Jasmine lives." Jo replied, feeling sick to her stomach with dread.

"Really?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jo nodded. "She looks after Hannah's daughter, Molly. I've been there a couple of times."

"Where's Hannah?" Jack asked, frowning slightly. "I don't want her getting wind of this and going in all guns blazing."

"I don't know, Guv. Sergeant Wright just informed me that she was supposed to be meeting Tony and Leela a while ago but she never showed up. She's probably just gone off to follow a lead or something." Not wanting him to dig any deeper, she smiled. "I'll go and get Sam."

She bolted towards CID, moving as quickly as she could without attracting too much attention. Sam was sitting at her desk in her office, laughing at something Phil had said. Jo glanced at her with such an expression on her face that the blonde instantly sat up straighter.

"Jo? What is it?" She demanded anxiously.

"Hannah's child-minder's just phoned in an abduction and Hannah's gone AWOL; no one's seen or heard from her for about an hour and a half."

"Is it Molly?"

"I don't know… Jasmine was too shaken up to give details. We need to get over there now."

Phil grabbed his jacket as well. "What? I'm not staying here."

With a sigh, Jo nodded and the three of them headed quickly to one of the pool cars. Phil jumped into the driver's seat before either woman could complain. Barking directions, the brunette kept hitting redial on her mobile, desperately trying to get hold of Hannah. Every single time she tried, it rang before going to answerphone. Frustrated, Jo tried phoning Ellie instead.

"Jo? What's wrong?"

"Is your mum with you?" The brunette demanded.

"No?"

"Where are you? Who's there?"

"I'm at home with Freya and the boys… what's going on, Jo?"

Breathing out a sigh of relief that they were safe, Jo smiled weakly. "Don't panic, but I'm going to send someone round to pick you up and take you to the station, alright?"

"Has something happened to Mum? Jo! Tell me!" The teenager shrieked, obviously ignoring the woman's request not to panic.

"Sweetheart, I'll explain when I see you. Get some things together to keep yourselves occupied. Don't open the door until you know that it's a police officer, understand?"

When Ellie had agreed to do as Jo asked and the detective had arranged for Mickey to go and pick them up, she returned her attention to trying to get hold of Hannah. It was still ringing out and going to answerphone, worrying the woman more and more.

"That one…" Jo muttered as the car slowed down, pointing out Jasmine's house. She opened the door and was out almost before Phil had drawn to a halt.

"Jo!" The young woman exclaimed, opening the door and staring at the detective with red eyes.

"Is it Molly?" When Jasmine didn't respond to Jo's question, the brunette knew that her fears had been confirmed. "What happened?"

"It was that guy that was here last week… he said that Hannah had asked him to pick Molly up and got really angry when I said I couldn't let him have her unless I heard directly from her mother." Jasmine allowed herself to be steered into the kitchen while Sam pushed Phil into the living room to keep an eye on the children in the young woman's care. "He punched me and I fell. Before I knew what was going on he was putting Molly in the car."

"Did you get the licence plate number?" Sam asked gently.

Jasmine nodded. "I wrote it down."

She scrabbled on the counter and passed the blonde a scrap of paper. With a smile, Sam took it and quickly called Stuart, asking him to run a check on the number. No sooner had the DI started reading out the number Jasmine had given her, than Jo's mobile began to ring. She glanced down at the display and felt her knees go weak.

"Han? Where the hell are you?" She snapped. Sam, who had just ended her own call, turned quickly and fixed Jo with a hard stare.

Putting her mobile on speakerphone so the DI could hear too, Jo listened to the reply. "I don't know. I've been abducted by someone called Alison Hardcastle. Apparently her brother is convinced that I'm his girlfriend and we've been together for five months. I don't even know anyone called Simon."

"Wait… Simon Hardcastle?" Jo muttered, furrowing her eyebrows. "Why does that name sound familiar?" There was a long pause as she tried to work out why she knew the name. Sam seemed to be frowning too. At exactly the same moment, realisation dawned on the two women. "The very first case we worked on together… the drugs in Canley Market. Simon Hardcastle was the stall holder suspected of dealing."

"Of course! We proved he had nothing to do with the drugs. So why is he doing this?"

Trying to think of a response she glanced at the scrap of paper Sam pushed towards her, reading the writing quickly. '_The car is registered to Simon Hardcastle. I've got an address for the house he shares with his sister._'

"Sam's found an address, sweetheart. We're coming." Jo told her quickly.

"You better. Where are the kids? Please tell me they're safe." Hannah begged.

Jo glanced sideways at the blonde DI, wondering how she could possibly tell Hannah that everything was alright. Her dilemma was increased as, from the other end of the phone, she heard a loud bang and then the sounds of a muffled struggle.

"Han? Hannah!" She demanded anxiously as she heard the red-head swearing loudly at whoever she was with. In spite of her concern, Jo couldn't help the tiniest smirk to appear on her lips at the stream of obscenities that met her ears. "Babe, what's happening?"

There was a scream and loud slapping sound and then the line went dead. Jo stared at the mobile in horror, before snatching it up and hitting re-dial. It rang several times before going to answerphone.

Assuring Jasmine that they'd let her know what happened, Jo and Sam retrieved Phil from the clutches of the children in the living room and headed towards the address given for Simon Hardcastle. The Uniform car was already parked outside when they screeched to a halt and Beth and Sally walked towards them quickly.

"Anything?" Jo demanded.

"No… we've spoken to the neighbours and she saw the car here about five minutes ago. She went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea and when she went back into the front room it had gone." Sally told them as she led them round the side of the house. "We checked round the back and he's obviously forgotten to lock the back door."

"Have you been in?"

Beth shook her head. "We only got here a couple of minutes ago, got no answer and the neighbour came over to find out what was happening."

Holding out her hand, Sam motioned for Beth to hand over her radio.

"All units from DI Nixon; request attention to a missing child, Molly Leanne McKay. 2-year-old IC3 female with black hair tied in bunches, wearing jeans and a pink hoody. She was abducted from 22 Maycroft Street approximately forty minutes ago. Suspect's name is Simon Hardcastle. The vehicle she was taken in is a black Peugeot 306, licence plate number: Victor Uniform five two Papa Lima Mike. Molly is DC McKay's daughter and we believe that Hardcastle may also have abducted DC McKay herself."

There was a crackle on the radio and then Smithy's voice reached them. "Hannah's missing?"

"We think so, yes." Sam agreed. "I want everyone on the lookout."

As Sam handed the radio back, the three members of CID headed towards the backdoor. Pushing it open cautiously, Jo headed through the kitchen, looking for anything odd. She clenched her jaw at the sight of an overturned chair in the centre of the tiled floor, offcuts of rope and discarded duct tape scattered around it. Spotting a small pool of crimson liquid on the ground, she took a steadying breath, following the trail of small drips to the sink. Blood was smeared over the counter beside it, as though someone had pressed up against it. Jo shook her head, pulling herself together before turning and grabbing Hannah's jacket from the work surface beside the door. Her determination rising, Jo moved into the living room as Phil headed upstairs with Sam, leaving the brunette to explore the ground floor. She picked up a photo frame and looked at it with distaste, recognising the man as Simon Hardcastle and assuming the blonde woman with him was his sister.

"JO!" Sam shouted from upstairs.

At once the DC dropped the frame and sprinted from the room, taking the stairs two at a time in her hurry to see what her superiors had discovered. She stopped as she saw what it was; her heart hammering in her chest. Horrified, she entered the room Sam and Phil were standing in, looking around slowly.

The walls were plastered with photos of Hannah and her children. Some were partially obscured by bushes and others were unobstructed. They were all obviously candid shots that the subjects did not know were being taken. Feeling bile rising in her throat, Jo strode forward and ripped down a photo of Hannah and herself taken outside the station and stared at it.

"This photo has to be three months old… Hannah said she lost that scarf during the Peterson theft case in November." Jo muttered, showing it to Sam and Phil quickly. "I nearly threw her out of the car she was moaning that much."

Phil turned around and picked something up. "Well someone found it."

Jo took the patterned scarf from him and compared it to the one in the picture, realising with a jolt that it was identical; it even smelt of Hannah's perfume. She moved past Phil, looking down at the collection of items on the table where he'd noticed the emerald green pashmina. Jo felt sick as she looked at the objects Hardcastle had collected. Hannah's reward card from the coffee shop down the road from the station was on the table, beside a shopping list written in the red-head's handwriting. There was also a half-full bottle of her perfume, an umbrella, a hairbrush, a t-shirt, several nail varnishes and a pair of boots, amongst other things. Jo picked up one of the black, high-heeled items of footwear shakily, wondering how it could possibly have come into Hardcastle's possession. Until a short while ago Hannah had been wearing the boots pretty much constantly.

"Hannah's middle name is Coco?" Phil asked, snorting with laughter and pointing at a scrap of paper pinned to the wall between the photographs. "That's hilarious! But look… he's got a full biography here… date of birth, parents' names, everything…"

"Look at this…" Sam muttered, ripping down a photo with a look of pure disgust on her face.

The picture showed Hannah lying in bed, clearly fast asleep. Beside her, Hardcastle was lying with his eyes closed, one hand on her hip. After glancing at it, Jo bolted from the room and Sam and Phil heard her throwing up. They glanced at each other before Sam left the room and followed the brunette into the bathroom. She crouched beside her, holding her hair out of the way and rubbing her back gently.

"That's Hannah's bed, Sam." She muttered when she had washed her mouth out and perched on the edge of the bath shakily. "How did he get into her room?"

"I don't know… but we're going to find him and he'll be going down for a very long time if I have anything to do with it."

Nodding, Jo allowed herself to be guided downstairs and out of the front door.


	22. Chapter 22

As soon as Hannah was in the back of the car she fumbled with the straps on the car seat, pulling Molly into her arms and holding her tightly. Sobbing slightly out of sheer relief that the toddler seemed unharmed, the detective buried her face in the little girl's top. She was dying for a cigarette to relieve the stress that was weighing down on her.

"Where are you taking us?" She demanded, her resolve strengthening as she looked at her daughter.

"We're going somewhere to talk."

Hannah's eyes darted around, taking in everything as she tried to think of a plan of escape. If it had just been her she would simply have thrown herself out of the car and hoped for the best. With Molly in her arms, however, that wasn't an option. Instead, the woman decided to wait until they slowed down sufficiently at traffic lights or a junction and then make a break for it. She had no idea whether Hardcastle or his sister would follow or attempt to stop her, but she couldn't just sit around and do nothing.

Unable to believe her luck, as they drew up to a set of traffic lights, Hannah spotted two uniformed officers walking along the pavement on the other side of the road. Looking closer, she realised that the PCs were Emma and Dan. Smiling down at her daughter, the detective tightened her grip, wrenched open the door and sprinted across the road, narrowly avoiding being hit by a bus.

"All units from 361," Hannah heard Emma shouting into her radio, "we've got DC McKay and her daughter in sight. Black Peugeot heading along Marchfield Road towards Cooley Avenue."

"Hannah!" Dan called, running towards her and pulling her clear of the road. "Are you alright? We got a message from DI Nixon to say you and your daughter had been abducted. She's got the entire relief on the case."

"Yeah, yeah… Can I…" She pulled his radio out of the holder at his shoulder and pressed the button. "All units from DC McKay… Just to let you all know that I'm alive and very, very angry." The brunette snapped, handing her daughter to Emma. "I want to know the second someone spots that car because I am going to rip off that bastard's–"

"OK…" Dan muttered, taking his radio out of her grip and propelling her towards Emma. "All units from 315, DC McKay and her daughter are definitely fine… and angry."

"315 from DI Nixon." Sam's voice came through the radio. "Where are you?"

"We're outside the launderette on Marchfield Road."

"Stay there… we'll be right over to pick them up."

Hannah grabbed the radio out of Dan's hand. "Sam… are the rest of the kids OK? Has someone checked on them?"

"They're fine, Han, we've had them taken into the station as a precaution. You can see them when we pick you up." The DI assured her.

"That bitch nicked my phone…" Hannah told her, irritated. She scowled as she heard a chuckle from the other end of the radio. "It's not funny!"

"No, I know. Dan, Emma? Make sure she stays with you, OK? Hannah I don't want you running off after Hardcastle and doing something stupid. That's an order, alright?"

"Yes, Guv…" The red-head agreed reluctantly, sighing.

Leaving Molly in Emma's arms, the red-head moved a little way along the street, lighting up her much needed cigarette. She brooded on the situation, wondering how likely it was that the DCI would let her in on the case into the abductions. She doubted she would be allowed and briefly decided that perhaps it was for the best; she couldn't guarantee that she would be able to stop herself physically attacking them.

Stamping viciously on the cigarette end, she walked back to where the PCs were standing and scooped Molly into her arms. They perched on the windowsill of the launderette to wait for her lift back to the station. PC Keane sat beside her, trying to keep up a conversation and making a fuss over the little girl, but Hannah was mostly uncommunicative as her mind was elsewhere. Every so often her grip on her daughter would tighten, as though she thought she was going to be snatched again.

She didn't notice when the pool car drew up beside the curb in front of her. She didn't even notice when her three CID colleagues got out and headed quickly towards her. Hannah did notice, however, when Sam hooked Molly out of her arms and Jo drew her into a tight hug and pressed a kiss to her forehead, completely ignoring the fact that they were in public and surrounded by colleagues. After a couple of moments, the brunette gently manoeuvred Hannah into the back of the car, murmuring softly to her as she did so.

"I'm fine." The younger woman told her firmly, taking a deep breath and pulling herself together. "Shit scared, but fine."

"What happened?"

"I… I thought she wanted directions or something. But then she knew my name and said she was Simon's sister. When I told her I didn't know him she whacked the door into my head." Hannah remembered, frowning slightly as she struggled with the events surrounding her abduction. "Next thing I knew I was tied to a chair in a kitchen and she was going on and on about her bloody brother. It was doing my head in." Hannah's head snapped up as she heard Jo chuckling beside her. "What?"

"Well you were abducted by the sister of the guy who's obviously been stalking you for months and you say she was 'doing your head in'."

"She was!" The red-head replied defensively. She looked down at her daughter, pressing a kiss to the top of her head and smiling as Molly jangled Jo's keys happily. "But then she obviously had enough of me, because she went to phone her brother. I managed to get free and that's when I phoned you. She came back in without me noticing. I was so surprised that I was back in the chair before I even noticed. Then I wound her up a bit more, accidentally–"

"Of course." Phil chipped in with a grin, relieved that the DC and her daughter were safe and falling back into his old role of teasing her. Hannah leant forwards and smacked him on the head. "Oi! Don't hit the driver!"

"Play nicely, children." Sam sighed, used to their behaviour. "Go on, Han."

"Anyway, she went mental and started attacking me. I called her a mad cow and she calmed down slightly… but then she said we were going somewhere so me and Simon could talk. He turned up and started saying all this stuff about me and I freaked out because I have no idea how he could know any of it."

"What stuff?" Sam asked, turning in the passenger seat to stare at her.

"My date of birth, where I was born, my parents' names, my middle name–"

"Yeah… Coco?" Phil asked, smirking broadly.

Hannah rolled her eyes. "Sharon, my mother, was obsessed with the film _Fame_. I'm just lucky she didn't make it my first name." She shook her head and glanced at Jo, taking strength from the woman's proximity. "But he knew other stuff too, stuff he couldn't have researched… he mentioned scars and injuries I had and explained how I got them. He knew my favourite colour and songs and film…"

"Don't worry." Jo told her softly, ignoring the DI and DS in the front of the car and pressing a kiss to her head. "He won't be coming anywhere near you again."

The red-head wanted to believe her, she really did. As they got out of the car and Jo led her through the corridors to the canteen where the other children were being looked after, Hannah felt the same feeling in the pit of her stomach she had every time something bad happened.

"Mummy!" Theo shouted, dropping his hand-held games console onto the table and running at her.

Hastily passing Molly to Jo before he barrelled into her, Hannah crouched down and gathered him up in her arms. She straightened up and he clung to her, his arms and legs wrapped round her like a monkey. Hannah smiled, dropping kisses into his fair hair and squeezing him tightly.

"Are you OK?" Ellie demanded, laying a hand on her mother's arm as she set Theo down on the ground. "Is Molly alright? Smithy told us what happened."

"We're both fine, babe." Hannah assured the teenager gently, pulling her into a tight hug. She motioned for her brother and sister to join them, holding all three teenagers to her. When they broke apart, she smiled broadly. "Right, I'll see what's going on and then we can go home."

"You can go home now, Hannah." DCI Meadows said firmly, striding towards them. "Sam told me you were back. Go home and be with your family. We'll take your statement in the morning, OK?"

"But, Guv… Hardcastle hasn't been arrested yet, has he? I want to…"

"Hannah, if you're about to tell me that you want to be the one to arrest him, then I don't want to hear it." Her superior warned. When the red-head made an irritated noise and looked away, he knew he'd foiled her plans. "Go home."

With a sigh she nodded. "Come on you lot; we're being kicked out."

"Can we go in a police car again?" Theo asked hopefully.

His mother looked at her boss, realising that they had no way of getting home. He smiled down at the six-year-old. "I don't see why not."

The six of them squashed into one police car and Hannah convinced Tony to drop them off a little way away from the house so that they could get some air and stretch their legs. Reluctantly he agreed to the forceful DC's demands, telling her that everyone would do their best to track the Hardcastles down.

As he drove away, the family headed round the corner into their road. Hannah was doing her best to convince them that everything was alright, although she knew that the girls weren't buying her cheery act. Freya was glancing at her warily, while Ellie looked downright annoyed at her cheerfulness.

"When's Jo coming home?" She demanded as they neared the house.

Hannah was taken aback by the question. "Firstly, this isn't Jo's home. She does have her own house, you know. She isn't at your beck and call all the time. And secondly, she's still on shift. I expect she'll come round when she finishes."

"I hope she hurries up because you're acting like a nutter and I reckon Jo will be able to get through to you."

Turning to face her daughter, Hannah's eyes landed on a dark car moving slowly towards them. Starting to shake, she handed Molly to the teenager and dug in her pocket for her house keys, pressing them into Freya's hand.

"Get in the house." She ordered quickly. "Lock the door and put the safety chain on. Then phone Jo and Sam and tell them that Hardcastle's here."

"Han?" Max almost whispered looking terrified.

"Go on, quickly."

"Hannah, why are you talking like you're not coming inside?" Freya challenged her. "Don't do something stupid… please!"

"I won't, babe." Hannah promised gently. "But he thinks we've got a connection so I might be able to arrest him. Now go inside and do what I asked."

Waiting until they were safely in the house, Hannah watched as the man sat in his car. Alison was nowhere to be seen, but the detective's full attention was focused on the man. Her mind was whirling with ideas of how to get him out of the car so that she could arrest him.

Striding towards the car, she knocked on the driver's window and smiled as he rolled it down. "Simon… I think we need to talk about what happened this evening."

"Get in the car and we will." He suggested.

"No, I don't think so. Why don't you get out?"

"It's freezing out there." Simon reasoned. "My car is much more comfortable."

"I'm not getting in the car. So just get out." Hannah snapped.

He narrowed his eyes and glared at her for a couple of moments before speaking. "You don't want to talk at all, do you?"

At once, her anger boiled over. "No. You're right; I don't want to talk to you. Why would I? You stalked me, you broke into my house, you abducted my daughter and you scared my friends and family. My kids are absolutely terrified. You are sick, d'you know that? You disgust me. I'm going to make sure that you rot in jail for what you've done to my family." She told him, pouring all her fear and fury into her tone. "Now get out of the fucking car."

"No! You know we're good together; we've got something special. Why are you so determined to throw all this away?"

"I don't know what is going on in your head," Hannah practically screamed at him, "but there is absolutely nothing going on between us. For god's sake, I've got a girlfriend! It's Jo I want to be with, not you! I love Jo."

"Jo?"

"DC Joanne Masters." She spat at him, not thinking about the trouble telling him about Jo might cause.

At her words, his face turned thunderous and he rolled the window up, turning the key in the ignition. Realising that he was going to drive off, she moved to stand in front of the car, her palms flat on the bonnet. Her eyes flashed angrily at the thought of him getting away. The engine roared as he revved it as a warning to her. Hannah didn't even flinch, standing her ground and glaring at him; daring him to move the car.

Suddenly, he put the car into reverse and shot backwards. The woman almost fell as the bonnet vanished from underneath her hands and she was catapulted forwards. Regaining her balance, she just had time to gasp in horror as the car raced towards her.


	23. Chapter 23

"Jo, I think you should go round to Hannah's." Sam said compassionately. Jo had told her friend the truth about her relationship with the red-head and, unsurprised, the DI had admitted she'd suspected that was the case. "Your mind is there anyway and you're not doing any good here. Go and make sure they're alright."

"Thanks, Sam." The brunette replied quietly, not needing to be told twice.

She left Sam's office and grabbed her things, heading down the stairs from CID two at a time. Throwing her bag roughly onto the seat beside her, Jo fixed up her mobile to the hands-free system in her car and started driving towards Hannah's house. She was only a couple of minutes away, when her mobile started ringing and she answered the call quickly.

"Jo?" A tinny voice came through the speaker beside her ear. "It's Ellie… you need to come quick."

"What's happened?" The woman demanded, putting her foot down and shooting through an amber light without even thinking.

"That man… Hardcastle… he's here. Mum told us to lock ourselves in the house and phone you and Sam."

"What d'you mean? Where's your Mum, Ellie?"

"She's outside… she said she was going to make him to get out of his car and then arrest him… but he's not got out… She's shouting at him…"

"OK, I'm almost there, sweetheart. Phone Sam and tell her."

Ending the call, Jo practically threw the car round the corner and saw the scene unfolding in front of her without being able to do anything. Hannah was standing in the road, her hands on the bonnet of Hardcastle's car as though physically stopping him leaving. Suddenly the car moved quickly backwards, screeched to a halt and then, as though in slow motion, it shot towards Hannah.

In her car, the brunette let out an anguished scream as she watched the red-head fly up over the bonnet of the car, bounce on the windscreen and sail over the roof. Her beautiful auburn hair fluttered up as she was thrown into the air and was the last thing Jo saw as the young woman disappeared from sight.

Feeling as though her heart had actually stopped, Jo sat perfectly still as Hardcastle's car sped past. Her hands seemed to be welded to the steering wheel and her eyes were fixed on the figure sprawled on the road. Coming to her senses, the brunette grabbed her mobile and sprinted from the car, not even bothering to close the door. She dropped to the ground beside Hannah, feeling for a pulse. It was thin and weak. Tenderly brushing the long, red hair away from the younger DC's face, Jo did a quick check of her injuries. Her mind didn't seem to be working well enough to get any idea of how badly Hannah was hurt and she only just managed to call for an ambulance.

"Hannah? Baby, please…" She begged, stroking her hair gently. "Please, please wake up… your kids need you, I need you. Hey, Sun Hill needs you. Come on, sweetheart, you're tough. Everyone knows that DC Hannah McKay is a fighter, so don't be stubborn and try and prove them wrong on this one, OK?"

"Jo?" A voice called nervously. There was a sharp intake of breath and then a scream. Jo felt someone crash unsteadily into her. "Mum? Mum!"

"Ellie…" The brunette started. Unable to continue the sentence, she pulled the teenager into her arms and held her tightly.

"Is she…"

"No, she's alive. Your Mum's a fighter, alright? She's going to be alright. She wouldn't die… she's too pig-headed. Besides, who'd be left to wind Stuart up on an hourly basis and squabble with Phil like a five-year-old?" Jo joked, trying to keep the teenager positive. With a sniff, she rubbed her eyes. "Go back inside, sweetheart. Keep the others in there… they shouldn't see this. An ambulance is on its way and I'll ring Sam."

Nodding weakly, the teenager did as she was told. Obviously she was too much in shock to argue.

"Sam, you need to get here now." Jo almost barked into her phone as soon as the DI answered. "Hardcastle's run Hannah over… I've called for an ambulance, but someone needs to be with the kids. Ellie saw her… she's in shock."

"Jesus…" Sam gasped. "I'm already on my way so I'll be there in two minutes."

The blonde almost crashed straight into Jo's car as she rounded the corner into Hannah's road. Parking quickly, she ran towards the figures on the ground and dropped to her knees beside the brunette, paying no attention to the effect of the rough ground on her expensive suit. Sam pulled off her jacket and laid it over the red-head gently, rolling back on her heels to survey the scene for any clues. There was nothing, apart from marks left behind on the road by the tyres as the car drove away.

When the ambulance arrived, Jo went to the hospital with her girlfriend, holding her hand tightly as she was loaded into the back. Sam smiled reassuringly as the doors were closed, before turning and heading up the gravel driveway and knocking on the door firmly. At once the door flew open and Ellie almost fell on her, sobbing quietly. Although the teenager was a head taller than the blonde detective, Sam managed to walk them both through the hall and into the living room.

"Ellie… your Mum is very ill, but she's a fighter." Sam reminded her, almost repeating Jo's words to the young red-head. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Freya and Max huddled together on the sofa with Theo clinging to his teenage aunt tightly and guessed that Ellie had told them what had happened. Molly, oblivious to everything, was playing with her toys on the carpet in front of them. "Come on, guys. I'll get you something to eat, then I'll phone the hospital and see if I can take you in."

"I'm not hungry." Max muttered sulkily.

Moving to crouch in front of him, smiling weakly, Sam reached out and held his hand. "I know, but Hannah would kill me if she thought I'd let you go hungry, wouldn't she?" As he nodded, agreeing that his sister would be far from impressed, the blonde smiled and straightened up. "What do we fancy, then? Pizza? Chinese?"

When no one spoke, she made an executive decision and ordered pizzas. They waited in near silence and ate in near silence, only Sam attempting to make conversation. She sighed worriedly at the pale, drawn faces of the children around the table, seeing her own concern reflected back at her. Irrationally, the woman couldn't help directing most of her anger about the situation at the DCI; if he had just let Hannah stay at the station for a while this might not have happened. Sam knew that wasn't true and it wasn't fair on Jack. He hadn't made the DC decide to confront Hardcastle on her own and he hadn't been driving the car that had hit her. The incident was down to the man picking on totally the wrong woman to stalk.

"Can you ring the hospital now, Sam?" Freya asked a couple of minutes later.

Nodding, the DI pulled out her mobile and dialled St Hugh's. She thought it was slightly worrying that she had the number of the hospital stored in her contacts list; one of the natural outcomes of working in her profession.

"This is DI Nixon from Sun Hill." She said, more bluntly than she'd intended. "DC McKay was brought in almost two hours ago and I was wondering whether there was any news… yes, I'm aware that ordinarily you can only speak to immediate family but… fine. I'm going to pass you over to her daughter."

"Hello?" Ellie murmured nervously as Sam handed over her mobile with a reassuring smile. "This is Ellie McKay. How's my Mum? Right… what does that mean? Is that bad? Can we see her? Please… I'm seventeen at the weekend. No… Sam will bring us… yeah, DI Nixon."

Holding out her hand, Sam took the mobile back. "Can you tell DC Masters that we're coming?" She asked curtly. "Thank you."

"She's had an operation to stop her internal bleeding." Ellie told them shakily. "She's still in theatre but they're going to move her to intensive care when she comes out."

"That's got to be a good sign, if they've stopped the bleeding." The woman reasoned as calmly as she could. "I'll phone someone to come and watch Theo and Molly; they're too young to hang around the hospital. Then we'll go."

When Phil had arrived straight from the station to look after the younger children, Sam ushered the teenagers into her car and sped towards St Hugh's. She almost had a full-blown argument with the nurse on the reception desk as she tried to put them off going in search of the injured woman. Finally, Sam convinced her to tell them where Hannah was and they almost ran for the lifts.

Emerging on the fourth floor, they spotted Jo pacing anxiously outside the doors to the room where Hannah was being settled. Ellie threw herself at the tall brunette, calming slightly as the strong arms of the older woman held her close. Freya joined them in the embrace and, a moment later, Max moved into Jo's arms as well.

"How is she?" Sam asked, returning a couple of moments later and handing round hot drinks from the cardboard bed pan she had commandeered as a makeshift tray. "How did the operation go?"

Jo shrugged. "I don't know… they won't tell me."

"Why not?" Freya asked, trying to peer through the almost closed blinds at the window of her sister's room.

"Because I'm not family."

"But… you are." Ellie told her, making Jo's heart swell with affection for the teary-eyed teenager. "This is stupid…"

Marching determinedly towards the door of the room, reminding both detectives of Hannah, she knocked and went in. Ignoring the medics' insisting that she needed to leave, Ellie demanded answers about her mother's condition. With a sigh, one of the nurses moved to open the blinds at the window before ushering her gently from the room.

With their view now unrestricted, the two women and three teenagers lined up in front of the glass and stared in at the motionless figure lying in the hospital bed, hooked up to various monitors. There was a tube in her mouth attaching her to a ventilator and helping her breathe. They watched as the plastic concertina inside the device rose and fell as it forced air in and out of her lungs. A drip was fitted to each of her arms, one bag containing clear liquid and the other clearly pumping blood into her body. There was a thick bandage around her head and, against the pillow, Hannah's face was grey.

"How is she?" Sam asked, glancing sideways at the nurse who was standing a little way off.

Glancing at the mouthy, red-headed teenager who had made it very clear that she needed answers, the woman sighed. "Miss McKay has some very serious injuries. The impact of the accident caused her left lung to be punctured when her ribs fractured. We've inserted a tube to help her breathe with the ventilator because at the moment she isn't breathing for herself."

"But she will?" Freya demanded.

"In time we hope so." The nurse assured her. "Miss McKay also has a fractured skull. We're keeping her sedated to allow the swelling in her brain, caused by a slight bleed into the membrane, to go down. Her legs are both broken in two places and she's broken her right wrist. We've managed to stem the internal bleeding and slowly her condition is stabilising."

"So she's going to be OK?" Max asked, smiling. Jo squeezed his shoulder, not wanting him to get his hopes up too much.

The nurse smiled grimly. "It's too early to say for sure; she's not out of the woods yet. We've done some more tests and, as I said, we'll be keeping her sedated for the next few days and keeping her under close, constant observation."

Ellie nodded, chewing her lip to prevent herself crying. "Can we see her?"

"I can let you in for a couple of minutes, but she's going to be unconscious for a long time. The best thing you can do is go home and get some rest. The moment her condition changes, for better or for worse, we'll let you know."

"I want to see her." Hannah's daughter replied stubbornly.

Nodding, the nurse held open the door to let the teenager inside the room. Jo glanced at Freya and Max. "Do you want to go in?"

Freya seemed unsure, nodding weakly and following her niece, but Max shook his head wordlessly. Glancing at Sam, who wrapped an arm around the boy and held him tightly, Jo followed the girls into the room.

"I'm sorry, it's family only." The nurse said, seeing the brunette standing at the end of Hannah's bed.

Tears spilling from her eyes, the detective nodded weakly, all the fight leaving her at the sight of her girlfriend looking scarily like a corpse lying in the bed as monitors beeped and the ventilator whirred. She reluctantly turned to walk out of the room but Ellie stood up and grabbed her hand, preventing her from leaving.

"Jo is family; she's Mum's partner… Mum would go mental if she knew you were making Jo leave." The teenager said determinedly, desperate for the brunette to stay. "Please…"

With a sigh, the nurse relented, moving away to give the three women some privacy for a couple of moments. She was as good as her word and, five minutes later, she returned and ushered them out of the room.

* * *

_**A/N: Thank you so much to those of you who are reading/favouriting/following! It really means a lot!**_

_**Also, thank you to A for Antechinus for your reviews! :)**_


	24. Chapter 24

As they headed through the reception and across the car park, Sam turned to Jo, speaking in a low voice. "What are we going to do about the kids?"

"I'll go and stay at Hannah's house until she comes home." Jo told her as though it was the simplest question she'd ever had to answer.

"I don't think that's a good idea." The blonde woman replied quietly. As Jo whirled to face her, anger and confusion twisting her features, Sam hastily elaborated. "What I mean is that I don't think it's a good idea for you and the kids to stay in that house. Think about it; Hardcastle's already got in there at least once. Until he's caught you can all come and stay with me. Seeing as Abigail and Harry have gone back to Manchester I've got three spare rooms, so there's plenty of space." Sensing Jo was about to argue, she smiled. "You live in a two bedroom house, darling. I want to help. Hannah might be your girlfriend, but she's my friend too."

Jo sighed. "Alright, thank you." She glanced towards the zombie-like teenagers waiting silently beside Sam's car. "We'll need to go and get their things… it's a good job you, Phil and I have all got our cars at Hannah's; children don't exactly travel light. I hope you're ready to have your home taken over."

When they arrived at the house, Sam had taken Theo and Molly straight to hers. Both children were already asleep, so she secured them into the back of her car as gently as she could. Phil and Jo had helped the teenagers gather everything the five children would need for a couple of days, before Phil drove them to join the others and Jo followed, taking a detour to her house to pick up her own things.

The next day, Jo had stayed at home with the kids, while the DI headed into work. She phoned not long after arriving to say that Hardcastle hadn't been found, but his sister had been brought in and charged with abduction, false imprisonment and assaulting a police officer.

"According to Alison Hardcastle," Mickey said, lounging on his desk chair while most of his colleagues gathered round to listen, "she's away on business a lot; weeks at a time, sometimes. In September her brother announced that he had a new girlfriend who he met while being interviewed by the police."

"Well," Phil interjected, "he told the truth about how they met, at least."

Mickey nodded. "Hardcastle said that after he was released he invited Hannah out for a drink and love blossomed."

Stuart snorted with laughter and Phil smirked at him. "We know why she turned you down that night then, mate."

"What about all that stuff in the padlocked room at their house?" Sam asked, ignoring their banter. "How did Hardcastle get his hands on it all, let alone find out all that information about Hannah and her family?"

"He told Alison that it was his dark room for photography. She claims she hasn't been inside it for ages."

"And you believe her?"

Mickey shrugged. "Yeah, Guv… I think I do. She's obviously not all there, considering she thought it was a good idea to knock out a police officer and tie her to a chair."

"How are the kids?" Kezia asked, causing everyone to turn their attention to Sam.

"Coping." The DI told them with a sigh. "I don't think they've been apart from her for very long before. According to Freya, even when Hannah was undercover she made sure she saw them as often as she could. They're trying to pretend they're fine, especially the girls, but it's obvious they're lost without her."

"We need to find Hardcastle and get him behind bars as soon as possible." Phil muttered unnecessarily, causing his colleagues to nod and mutter in agreement.

"DI Nixon?" Inspector Gold appeared, poking her head around the door to CID. "I've got an arson for you; 25 Pelgrane Avenue."

Sam frowned for a moment and then her eyes widened and she grabbed her jacket hurriedly. "That's Jo's house!"

Stuart and Phil both grabbed their jackets and started after the petite blonde, but Phil was quicker. He strode out of CID, shooting the other man a toothy grin as he caught up with Sam. By the time the detectives arrived at the scene, the fire crew were already there, putting out the final flames. Sam's mouth fell open as she surveyed the remains of her friend's house and realised it was highly unlikely much inside would be salvageable.

"Oh…" She murmured, feeling the DS slide an arm around her waist. She turned and buried her face into his chest, wondering just how much more Jo would have to cope with.

"You better phone Jo before someone else does." Phil suggested softly as she pulled away, wiping her cheeks surreptitiously and running a hand through her hair. "It's better coming from you. I'll go and see just how bad it is inside."

After passing on the bad news to her friend, who had sounded strangely calm about the information, Sam headed into the house in search of Phil. She stared around at the blackened walls and furniture and her heart sank as she realised that there was no chance that Jo would be able to live there for the foreseeable future. Tracking Phil down upstairs, she watched as he briefly glanced up, before continuing to push things into a suitcase he had found from somewhere. The bedroom appeared to have been spared the worst of the effects of the fire, mainly being hit by smoke damage.

"I thought we should pack up everything that's not too damaged." He suggested.

With a smirk, Sam nodded. "Careful, DS Hunter, people will start thinking you actually care."

He chuckled. "I'm just thinking of Jo's bank balance; no point spending money on new clothes if she doesn't need to."

For a couple of minutes, Sam followed his lead. She opened the chest of drawers and began pulling clothes out, stuffing them into a holdall she'd found on top of the wardrobe. When she'd emptied it, she found another bag and tackled the dressing table drawers.

"Phil…" She muttered, a thought occurring to her suddenly. "What if this is down to Hardcastle?"

"Why would he target Jo's house? Surely he's more likely to attack Hannah's?"

"Yeah, unless he saw Uniform watching her house."

He nodded, sitting on the edge of Jo's bed and looking at the blonde woman who was leaning against the chest of drawers with her arms folded, frowning slightly at him. "But why would he single Jo out?"

"What if he's seen them together?"

"He's obviously seen them together; we saw the photos he took, remember? But he's also seen Han with you, me, Stu, Smithy… the list is endless. Does this mean we're all targets?"

"Oh, come on, Phil!" Sam exclaimed, wondering why suddenly he was so slow on the uptake. "Yes, Hardcastle might have seen Han with us, but he might have seen her _with_ Jo."

"What?"

"Jo and Hannah, Phil."

"Jo and Hannah what, Sam?"

Exhaling in frustration, the woman briefly wondered how he could be so blind. "They're a couple. You know, in a relationship?"

"No way?"

"Yes way, Phil. So now you can see why Jo would be a target for Hardcastle?"

"Well, yeah." He agreed, running a hand through his hair agitatedly. "That would definitely explain why Jo's house has almost been burnt to the ground. Are they safe at your place?"

Sam looked at him for a moment before pulling out her mobile. "Terry? Can you and Kezia head over to my house and make sure everything's alright? It's possible that Hardcastle is behind the arson attack on Jo's house and we need to make sure he doesn't find out that they're at mine."

With her colleague's assurances ringing in her ears, Sam helped Phil carry the bags full of Jo's belongings downstairs. They quickly checked the rest of the house for anything salvageable, before putting the bags in the boot of the pool car and leaving the scene. They nodded to Lorna, the Crime Scene Examiner, as they left her to do her job; trusting her to find the evidence they needed.

"Can we go back to the station via St Hugh's?" Sam asked softly as Phil began to drive them back. "I want to see how Hannah is."

Nodding, the Detective Sergeant headed in the direction of the hospital. Flashing their warrant cards the pair bypassed the reception desk and made their way up to the fourth floor, where Hannah was being looked after. There was a hive of activity around the room Sam had last seen Hannah in and the detectives exchanged a worried glance.

Reaching out and grasping a passing nurse by the arm, she looked towards the room. "Excuse me… DI Nixon, DS Hunter, Sun Hill… what's going on?"

"Someone unplugged the ventilator." The woman, who couldn't have been much older than Sam's own daughter, told her distractedly. "We only just managed to catch her in time. There is the chance of brain damage, though, considering she was deprived of oxygen for a while."

Feeling as though she'd been punched in the stomach Sam nodded and thanked the nurse, clamping her mobile to her ear. "Smithy? Can we get someone from Uniform down to St Hugh's please? I want a guard in constant presence outside Hannah's room."

"What's happened?" He demanded, concerned that she was requesting such security for his friend.

"Someone pulled the plug on the ventilator helping her breathe." Sam told him quickly, balling her hand into a fist as she did so. "She nearly died and she could have brain damage."

"What?"

"I don't want Jo or Hannah's family getting wind of this so keep it to yourself, alright? Just say that until Hardcastle's caught we aren't taking any chances."

With the promise of someone coming over straight away, Sam said goodbye and returned to stand beside Phil at the window into Hannah's room. For a moment they stood side-by-side watching the ventilator aiding the woman's breathing and the steady readings on the monitors. Hannah looked less pale than she had done the day before, but the cuts and bruises on her face and arms still stood out angrily against her skin. Even the vivid redness of her hair seemed too harsh. Slowly, Phil slid his arm around Sam's waist, pulling the petit blonde closer to his side. She didn't push him away, so he tightened his grip, stroking her hip reassuringly.

Pulling away as the lift doors opened, Sam wiped her eyes quickly and turned to face the uniformed PC with a smile. Tony glanced through the window and asked how Hannah was. Giving him a quick explanation of her condition as far as they were aware, leaving out their new fears caused by the oxygen deprivation, the detectives watched PC Stamp settling himself in one of the hard, plastic seats beside the DC's bed before heading out of the hospital.

Another week passed without any change in the young detective's condition. Jo returned to work and threw herself into the investigation. She was the one who finally arrested Simon Hardcastle, bringing him into the station where he received a less than warm welcome. The Superintendent had to remind members of both Uniform and CID that, although they were angry with the man, they needed to stay professional in order to achieve the best outcome; for Hannah's sake. This, however, was too much for Jo and she was forbidden from being involved in the interviews. In quick succession Sam, Phil and Mickey were also banned from talking to Hardcastle by the DCI.

"What's he saying?" Mickey demanded as soon as Grace and Stuart returned to CID from interviewing Hardcastle.

Grace shrugged. "He's sticking to his story that Hannah's his girlfriend. He claims that she asked him to pick Molly up from the child-minder's and he and Hannah were heading out for dinner when she escaped from his car."

"He's having a laugh, ain't he?" Phil snapped, looking between the two detectives in disgust.

"What's he saying about the hit and run?" Sam asked, prompting them to continue.

"At first Hardcastle claimed that it was an accident; that Hannah ran out in front of his car and he panicked." Stuart told them, raising an eyebrow. "When Grace informed him that we had witnesses, he said that she admitted cheating on him and he saw red. He said she was having an affair with Jo." At this, he glanced curiously at Jo, who sighed.

"It's not an affair…" She said, not needing to elaborate for the full meaning behind her words to be obvious to everyone.

"Has he said anything about the fire at Jo's house or…" Phil stopped abruptly.

Narrowing her eyes, Jo turned to look at him quickly. "Or?"

"Someone turned off Hannah's ventilator not long after the arson attack on your house." Sam told her gently. "They caught it in time and she's alright."

"And you didn't tell me?" Her friend snapped. When no one answered, Jo growled with fury and grabbed her jacket. "I'm going to the hospital."

No one tried to stop her as she strode from the office. On her way to St Hugh's, Jo received a phone call from the hospital to say that Hannah had been taken off the ventilator and was breathing by herself. With the girls and Max still at school, she rushed over on her own and went up to Hannah's room, refusing to leave until her girlfriend eventually woke up.

"Come on, Han." She murmured, brushing the red curls away from the pale face. "You proved that you could breathe on your own, so now you need to wake up, OK?" Sighing, Jo squeezed Hannah's hand, unsurprised when she didn't feel any response. "Theo's got parents' evening next week and it was Ellie's birthday on Saturday. You waking up would be the best belated seventeenth birthday present anyone could ever imagine. I've tried to keep things normal for them, sweetheart; I really have done my best. But they miss you. We're staying with Sam at the moment, but Hardcastle's been arrested now, so I suppose we can move back to your house. He burnt mine down… I guess he realised that we weren't just friends."

Her one-sided conversation continued for hours. Glancing up wearily, she saw Sam gazing through the window and stood, gently replacing Hannah's hand on the bed and moving to speak to her friend. She didn't notice her girlfriend's fingers twitching as she moved from the room.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the ventilator." Sam apologised as soon as the door had closed behind her. "Hardcastle's been charged with two counts of abduction, arson and attempted murder; although he is still under the impression that they're a couple."

The brunette sighed and leant against the wall with her back to the window. "I'm glad we got him. Hannah's breathing on her own now and her ribs and bones seem to be healing normally. But they can't say whether the oxygen deprivation has caused any damage until she wakes up."

"Is she showing any signs of waking up?"

"Nothing yet…" Jo told her wearily. "They've stopped sedating her, so it's a matter of time now. It depends on how resistant she is to the medication; it could be minutes or it could be hours."

"D'you mind if I stay with her for a while?" Sam asked, taking in Jo's tired eyes and pale face. "You've been sitting here for hours; go home and have a shower and something to eat. The kids are back from school and you should be the one to tell them that Hannah's breathing on her own and Hardcastle's been charged."

"No, Sam, I…"

"I promise I'll ring if anything happens."

With a sigh, Jo agreed. She pulled Sam into a grateful hug before heading away along the corridor. The blonde DI watched her leave, before taking her place at Hannah's bedside. She reached out and took the young DC's hand and starting to talk to her as Jo had done; filling her in on the office gossip and telling her things about her family.

* * *

_**A/N: I couldn't remember what Abi's son was called – if his name was ever mentioned – so I decided he should be called Harry. :)**_


	25. Chapter 25

Slowly Hannah opened her eyes, wondering why she felt as though her arms and legs were made of lead. The bed she was lying in was hard and unfamiliar and the pounding in her head was making it difficult to focus. Her throat was raw, like she'd tried to swallow razor blades.

As her eyes became accustomed to the dim light in the room, she realised that there was someone sitting beside the bed. Blonde hair fanned across the arms that where being used as a makeshift pillow for the person beside her. Totally confused, Hannah attempted to sit up, hampered by the heaviness in her limps and the tangle of tubes and wires.

Giving up, the red-head closed her eyes and drifted back into the comforting cloud of sleep that had been preventing her understand what was going on.

x-x

"Sam?" Jo gently shook her friend awake.

"Hi… how're the kids?"

"Fed and watered." The brunette told her, removing her jacket and slipping into the seat Sam had just vacated. "I left them doing homework; Phil was trying to explain algebraic equations to Max. I'm not sure who was more confused."

Sam chuckled. "I'd better get back and make sure they haven't given up and started playing computer games."

Once she'd left, Jo reached out and took Hannah's hand. She looked at the long, pale fingers, stroking them gently and wondering how long it would be until her girlfriend woke up. The brunette was so caught up in her own thoughts, that she didn't notice Hannah's grip on her hand tightening. Resting her head on her spare hand, Jo closed her eyes and yawned.

"Boring you already, am I?" A quiet, raspy voice asked.

Jumping, she looked up, unable to believe her ears. "Hannah!" She leant down and kissed the red-head quickly, pulling a face as her girlfriend winced. "Sorry."

"Don't be. I'll even let you do it again if you're good."

Jo laughed softly, stroking her cheek. "Not until the doctor's been to see you."

Frowning, Hannah tried and failed to sit up again. "Doctor? Jo… What happened? I feel like I've been hit by a car."

"You have, sweetheart… don't you remember?"

She shook her head, wincing again. "I was… I was talking to Hardcastle… he wouldn't get out of the car. He… he was going on about us being together. I told him about you… and then… oh…"

"That explains why my house was burnt down, then." Jo told her; the hint of a smile on her lips, but her eyes telling a different story.

Blinking at her girlfriend, tears sprang into Hannah's eyes. "Oh, god, babe… I'm so sorry…"

"Hey, hey!" Jo stroked her hair gently. "It's only a house. I'm far more worried about you. Look, I'm going to get a doctor to check you over and then I'll be right back, OK?"

Complying without any argument, Hannah allowed herself to be checked over by the middle-aged doctor. He looked at the readings on the monitors she was still hooked up to and took several vials of blood from her arm, before smiling and explaining her injuries, telling her that she was doing much better than expected. When he finally left, Jo helped the younger woman to sit up. Wincing slightly at the sharp pain that stabbed through her every so often, Hannah breathed out as she finally got comfortable.

"How long do I have to stay in here?" She grumbled. "I want a fag and I want to get back to work."

Jo rolled her eyes. "Bloody hell, sweetheart. You got knocked over by a car a week ago; fractured your skull and your ribs, broke both legs and your wrist, punctured a lung and had massive internal bleeding. You are not going back to work for a while, trust me. You're not having a cigarette either… this is the perfect opportunity for you to give up."

"Spoil sport…" The red-head muttered, looking down at her hands like a petulant child. Then she looked up quickly and groaned, tears springing to her eyes. "A week? Oh… Ellie's birthday… How are the kids?"

"They're fine. Missing you, obviously, but they're OK. Ellie won't care that you missed her birthday now you're awake. We're all staying at Sam's… she thought it was safer while Hardcastle was on the loose. I guess now he's been arrested we can go back to yours; if you'll have me, that is."

Hannah pretended to be thinking for a moment, pouting at her girlfriend. "Considering it looks like I'll be in here for a while, I don't have much choice."

"Charming…"

"You know I'm joking, babe." She smiled. There was a pause as the both stared at their joined hands. Jo lazily ran her thumb over Hannah's knuckles. "What's wrong, Jo?"

"It's been twice in about a month and a half that I honestly thought I was going to lose you." Jo admitted. "We haven't even been a couple long, but the idea that… thinking about you… it made me realise that… I need to tell you how much I..."

"Don't." Hannah's sharp tone caused Jo to look away from the woman lying on the bed. Her heart sank at the expression she had glimpsed on the pale face before she focused on her hand in her lap. She started to pull her other hand out of her girlfriend's grasp, when Hannah's grip tightened and prevented her moving. Struggling, the red-head reached out and tried to put her hand under the older woman's chin to force her to look up. "Don't say it because you think you have to or because you thought I was going to die. I don't want pity or sympathy or… guilt. I couldn't deal with that. I'd rather you never say it than not mean it."

"Hannah… I don't tend to say things I don't mean." Jo reminded her gently, realising that she was scared of rejection and, even after everything, gripped by the belief that their relationship was too good to be true. "I love you."

Hannah smiled weakly, using the hand that was still holding her girlfriend's chin to stoke her cheek, wiping away the tears on her cheeks. "I love you, too."

Leaning down, Jo kissed her. Hannah giggled and held onto her tightly, refusing to let her go. They broke apart as the red-head hissed with pain. Seeing the guilty expression on her girlfriend's face she rolled her eyes.

"What?"

"I'm not going to break." She said firmly. "I got hit by a car and I'm still here. I don't think you can cause me too much extra damage."

Moving back to the chair, Jo shrugged. "Well I'm not taking any chances. We've got plenty of time to make up for you being in here when you're better. In the meantime, behave yourself."

Hannah was about to reply, when there was a light tap on the door and the doctor appeared. "Miss McKay? Can I have a word in private?"

"No. Not in private, but you can have a word." She agreed, reaching out for Jo's hand and making it very clear that she wanted her to stay.

"Very well…" The man agreed, contemplating the two women before looking down at the clipboard in his hands. When he glanced back at her, there was a curious look in his eyes. "When you were brought in we took samples of your blood…"

"So?" She snapped, fear manifesting itself as anger; unsure whether she could cope with anything else today. "Are you trying to tell me I'm ill?"

"Not exactly… Given the severity of your injuries what the tests showed surprised us, which is why we double checked the results with new samples."

Glancing at Jo, the red-head gulped, wondering what the doctor could possibly be getting at. "Just spit it out."

"Hannah, you're nearly eight weeks pregnant."

"What?" She furrowed her eyebrows. "How?"

"You already have three children, don't you? I wouldn't have thought you needed an explanation." He joked.

Glaring at him, Hannah clenched her jaw. She realised that Jo's grip on her hand had loosened and turned to look at her quickly. The brunette seemed to be in shock; on the verge of a fresh wave of tears.

"I'm surprised the accident didn't cause you to lose the baby. With injuries as severe as yours, we'd have expected you to, but it appears you're the exception to the rule." The doctor continued, moving towards the door. "I'll leave you to get your head around the good news."

When he'd left, the red-head turned to her girlfriend pleadingly. "Jo? There must be a mistake. It's impossible for me to be pregnant."

"Really?" She almost snapped. "Eight weeks… that's around the time you almost ended up as a headless corpse. I suppose I can't say anything seeing as we weren't together then. Who's is it?"

"I don't know! I swear you're the first person I've slept with since Jamieson... There's obviously been a mistake."

Picking up the clipboard the doctor had left on the bed, Jo looked at the results. "According to this there hasn't."

"I don't understand."

"Neither do I. Just tell me the truth."

"I am!"

As Hannah dissolved into confused and frustrated tears, Jo sighed. She wanted to wrap the younger woman in her arms and comfort her, but something stopped her moving from her position at the end of the bed. In her heart she knew her girlfriend wasn't lying, but then how could she possibly be pregnant? Out of the blue, one option occurred to her and she froze.

"Hannah… we saw a photo in Hardcastle's house… he was in your bed." As the younger woman tensed, Jo clenched her fists without realising. "I know this is difficult, but can you remember what happened?"

"No…" She started sobbing again. "I didn't know anything about it until his sister told me. She said it was taken just after New Year. How could I not have known about it? You know I'm a light sleeper… you wake me up when you roll over. How could he have been there without me waking up?"

"He managed to get into your house at least once and, considering how much he knew about you, he probably knew that you always have hot chocolate before you go to bed. My guess is that he drugged you and…" Jo trailed off, hearing her voice wobbling as the words stuck in her throat. Looking at the floor so that she didn't have to meet Hannah's eyes, she walked to the door and paused with her hand on the handle. "I'm going to ring Sam and get them to force him to confess."

Unable to look at the red-head in case she broke down, Jo headed outside the room and leant against the wall. She took several deep breaths, ignoring the tears trailing down her face and dialled Sam's number.

"Jo?" The DI's voice was concerned, hearing her friend's breath hitching over the phone. "What's happened? Is it Hannah?"

"I think… I think he raped her, Sam."

"What? Who?"

"Hardcastle… the night that photo we found was taken. Hardcastle's sister told Hannah he said it was taken about eight weeks ago and the doctor's just told us Hannah's eight weeks pregnant."

"What?" Sam repeated, horrified. "Why didn't Hannah say anything?"

Jo shook her head, sobbing slightly. "She didn't know, Sam. Hannah's such a light sleeper she's always moaning that I wake her up every two minutes. He must have somehow drugged her for her not to realise he was in the house, let alone her bed."

"I'm going to have to pass this on to Grace and Stuart, Jo." The DI reminded her. "And I believe your theory, but there's very little we can do unless he admits it which, seeing as he's still adamant that they're in a relationship, is unlikely. Hannah doesn't remember and after all this time there won't be any forensic evidence. Unless she keeps the baby and we can get a DNA sample, I doubt that we'll be able to charge him with her rape." There was a pause. "Do you think she'll keep it?"

"Yeah, I think she might." Jo admitted quietly.

"Really?"

"She kept Molly, didn't she? I don't know much about Ellie's dad, except that he's the only one who's been around at all, but she kept Theo even though his dad walked out on them when he found out Han was pregnant. I don't think Hannah's capable of getting rid of a baby, whatever the circumstances."

"How do you feel about it?"

Jo shook her head. "I don't know. It's not my place to tell her what to do, is it? I'd rather we weren't in this situation… I mean, we just had the whole 'I love you' talk. I'm scared that I won't be able to feel anything positive for the baby. What if she keeps it and I can't bear to be anywhere near it. That's going to tear us apart and I don't know if I can cope with that."

"Have you told her that you're scared?"

"No… How can I tell Hannah that I'm scared when it's her that's going through all this? I really love her, Sam, but what if I can't love the baby? What if every time I look at it all I feel is hatred?"

"It's just a baby, Jo. Right now you might not want anything to do with it, but when it arrives and you hold it that'll change. Trust me. I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to cope with having Abi, but when she was born I knew that I would do anything for her. This baby might not be yours, biologically, but that won't matter when it's born."

Jo sighed. "Han always said she didn't want to go through another pregnancy and that if we ever had a baby it would have to be me who went through the whole thing. I guess I just assumed that that would happen one day."

"There's no reason why it shouldn't." Sam pointed out. "But right now you need to reassure Hannah that you're not going anywhere. She's probably wondering whether she's got to go through this on her own. It would have taken a lot for Hannah to admit how she feels about you, you know that. She needs your support, Jo. Listen, when I'm finished here I'm coming to see you both."

The brunette said goodbye and headed back into the room. Her heart broke as she realised that Sam was probably right. Hannah was crying her eyes out, sobs racking her already frail body. Dropping her mobile onto the end of the bed, Jo gathered the younger woman into her arms, holding her tightly. She whispered promises and assurances into her ear softly, stroking her hair and arms and trying to calm her girlfriend down. Hannah clung to Jo as though she thought she was about to vanish.

"Please don't leave me." She begged between sobs.

"I'm not going anywhere, sweetheart." Jo promised firmly. "Whatever you decide, I'll stick by you."

"I can't get rid of it." Hannah admitted in such a low voice that the older woman barely heard her. "It's my baby as much as his and it's done nothing wrong…"

Still stroking her hair calmingly, Jo nodded. "I know."

"You don't mind?"

"I'm not sure." She admitted. "But I love you and a baby seems a really stupid thing to lose you over."

With a weak smile, Hannah placed her girlfriend's hand on her stomach, interlacing their fingers. "This is our baby. Not mine and definitely not his; ours."

Jo looked down for a moment, before meeting Hannah's eyes and smiling. "Our baby."

_Today is a very special day_

_ It feels like the beginning _

_Of something more_

_And we are standing on the edge_

_Of all that we've imagined_

_In lives before_

_Keep it up; the stars are close to your head now_

_It's magical times that we live in_

_Keep it up; the stars are close to your head now_

_It's magic I tell you, it's happening_

* * *

_**A/N: So that's the end! Thank you all for reading; I'm glad you enjoyed it! :)**_

_**The lyrics at the end were from **_**Close to Your Head**_** by **_**Terra Naomi**_** – it's a gorgeous song (as are all of hers) so I advise you to go and have a listen ;) **_

_**So... somehow a sequel has pretty much written itself. I never intended to write one, but I didn't really have a choice in the matter and it got written anyway. It's called '**_**Lies**_**' and it'll be appearing in a couple of days. Give it a read and tell me what you think?**_

_**Becki x**_


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